Unemployment rate reaches an all-time high of 5.8%

Sri Lanka’s unemployment rate reached 5.8 percent in the third quarter of 2020 (3Q20), the highest-ever recorded in recent years.

According to data released by the Department of Census and Statistics, the country had a total of 486,524 unemployed persons for the July – September period.

The 3Q20 is also the period when the country was resuming economic activity after the easing of the restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The survey results highlighted that the unemployment among females is higher in all age groups. Youth and female unemployment contribute more to the overall unemployment of the country, the Department said in its latest bulletin.

The overall unemployment rate reported for female reached 8.6 percent, whereas for males it reached 4.3 percent.

Youth unemployment rate (age 15 – 24 years) increased to 25.9 percent, the highest reported unemployment rate among all age groups.

Furthermore, as the highest unemployment rate is reported from the G.C.E (A/L) and above group (9.6 percent), the survey revealed that, female unemployment rates are higher than those of males in all levels of education.

“The problem of unemployment is more acute in the case of educated females than educated males, which was observed consistently over the results of previous survey rounds as well,” the Department of Census and Statistics said.