On Kussi Amma Sera’s “Lanka’s crisis of skills”

You have raised an issue that I hear being discussed in Colombo’s watering holes, private parties, and university circles. The majority of the commentators use your same words to describe “Sri Lankan workers as “lazy, costlier, and inefficient”, and complain about the “Rs. 2000 they have to pay to a carpenter.”

Sri Lanka’s labour force participation rate has remained more or less unchanged at about 54 per cent in the last five years. The unemployment rate in the last four years has been over 4 per cent. Is it really the laziness and inefficiency of the workers that is making it hard for exporters and contractors to find workers? Are they only 25 per cent efficient because they are paid only 25 per cent of the wage of an average foreign worker? Is it laziness or because they walk a few miles in the sun, wait for a crowded bus or a train, and sit in it for an hour to get to work on time, and is exhausted and hungry?

From January 2015 to May 2018, the national CPI has increased by 10.2 per cent, the Colombo CPI has increased by 13.6 per cent. I am sure that travel time too has increased by the same proportions. Yet, the legislated national minimum wage is Rs. 400 per day. The difference between the specified average wage for a skilled worker and an unskilled worker is about Rs. 50 per day. Moreover, the training opportunities for those Grade 10 and 12 dropouts and those who were unsuccessful are limited and career counseling at schools is almost non- existent. There is also a social stigma attached to even skilled professions such as carpentry, masonry, and plumbing.

This is where the private sector should step in. Exporters and contractors should not wait for the government to train and supply workers. The chambers must get their membership to set up training institutes or pay and motivate their current workers to sharpen their skills, instead of complaining about the government stealing their workers. Workers leaving should be considered a sign of dissatisfaction with their current jobs, the employer, remuneration, work environment, etc. The turnover may not be because they want a cushy office job with fixed hours and less work, and ability to save more.

Unless the workforce issues are resolved soon by the private sector taking the lead, Sri Lanka will not be able to sustain the inflow of FDI, which the government claims reached a historic high in 2017.

If one looks at countries that have attracted FDI constituting much larger portions of their GDPs than Sri Lanka’s 1.1 per cent and not dependent on one or two large countries, one of the prerequisites that has helped sustain FDI growth is a skilled and educated workforce. In Sri Lanka, English language skills, etiquette, hygiene, work ethics, and integrity must also be made a mandatory part of the training. Not just technical skills.

Indeed, workforce is only one of many prerequisites. We have several deficiencies transport and other infrastructure is perhaps the next critical physical deficiency that has to be corrected. Here too, the private sector must play a role, like in the Colombo airport development, electricity and water supply, expressway development, and of course local public transport, which is vital for accessing the workforce. Unless the government sets the stage for these, the private sector will remain helpless.