SL recorded 8.3 mn employed by end 2017

Those employed in Sri Lanka by the end of 2017 had reached 8.3 million of which 44% were engaged in the service sector while 28% were in the industrial sector and 27% were in the agriculture sector, a survey conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) found.

The survey also reveals that 67% of those employed work more than 40 hours per week.

The DCS survey, entitled Labour Force Survey (LFS), was designed to measure the levels and trends of employment, unemployment and facts concerning the labour force in Sri Lanka. This survey has been conducted quarterly, since the first quarter of 1990. The LFS survey covering the 4th quarter of 2017 was the 105th time the quarterly survey had been conducted and was based on a sample of 6,440 housing units covering the entire country.

The working-age of a person in Sri Lanka is defined as age 15 and above. The estimated workingage household population for the 4th quarter of 2017 was about 15.9 million, the LFS revealed.

The total working age population who were employed or unemployed during the reference week is identified as the economically active population or the labour force of the country. The estimated economically active population was about 8.6 million in the 4th quarter of 2017, of which 63.6 per cent were male and 36.4 per cent were female.

Labour force population expressed as a percentage of the working-age population (age 15 years and above) is the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR). The survey results revealed that the overall LFPR for the fourth quarter of 2017 was 54.1 per cent and this was recorded as 74.9 per cent and 36.4 per cent for males and females respectively.