Unemployment rate declines to 4.3% as economy recovers

25 March 2024 02:26 am - 11 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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Sri Lanka’s official unemployment rate slipped to 4.3 percent in the final quarter of last year from 4.7 percent in the quarter before as the economy expanded in the final three months of the year.

This is roughly thrice the pace of the third quarter growth, data released by the Census and Statistics Department showed.

Sri Lanka’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the value of total products by an economy, expanded by 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year from 1.6 percent in the third quarter as the country was recovering from the shortage of foreign currency which reached a breaking point in early 2022.

As now the country generates US$ 825 million from both remittances and tourism every month, the worst of the crisis in the economy appears to be behind and the people who remained in the sidelines for a very long time due to the pandemic induced economic destruction and then the economic disaster that ensued in the following two years, appear to be now beginning to find opportunities in the labour market.
Many companies until recently either had laid off staff or froze their hiring due to the effects of the recent crises stated above and are now beginning to rehire as the economy shows signs of recovery.

But, in the last two years Sri Lanka saw mass migration, particularly in the categories of professionals which wasn’t that intense before the economic crisis in 2022.
As companies begin to rehire, they might find shortage of talent in the economy.

An official jobless rate of 4.3 percent reflects near full employment and thus point to tight labour market conditions too.

Meanwhile, the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) or the section of people both employed and unemployed but looking for work as a share of the working age population further shrank to 47.1 percent by the end of fourth quarter last year from 48.8 percent in the third quarter and 49.8 percent in 2022.

In the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development , the Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) stands above 60 percent.

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Comments - 11

Sandy Monday, 25 March 2024 08:03 AM

All the people who worked overtime to destabilize the country would be feeling bad.

Wrong stats Monday, 25 March 2024 08:38 PM

Yes. It should decline as all employable people are migrating or getting foreign employment. So this not good news .

Rajapassas will be a forgotten commodity very soon Monday, 25 March 2024 09:32 AM

Thanks to Ranil and those who support him all the way to prosperity we see these changes.

Raven Monday, 25 March 2024 09:55 AM

Thank you Ranil.

dinesh Monday, 25 March 2024 10:24 AM

you are joking right ??? more like most people have left the country...otherwise no economic recovery to be seen...

Gune Monday, 25 March 2024 11:03 AM

Is unemployment rate really 4.3% in SL? Am I reading it correctly? This is bullshit. There are so many struggling unemployed people in the country and someone is saying it is 4.3%. Who actually collects this data? It will be like anything else in this country, nothing is believable and all are cooked up data.

VJ Monday, 25 March 2024 02:47 PM

This ought to be cooked up data. So many employers have closed their business putting more people out of work. The news item did not reveal the source of the data.

Does a hairdresser do the maths for the treasury? Monday, 25 March 2024 04:24 PM

If 95.7% are employed Sri Lankans must be rolling in cash. If so, what's the fuss about food prices. Sri Lanka should be able to loan money to the US. Lol

Gamapala Girinanda Monday, 25 March 2024 04:30 PM

People disbelieving these reports since 70s! Ponaya giving figure to get another Pin Chance - Lady Poni is in taste by eating Pin Bath!!

Observer Monday, 25 March 2024 05:47 PM

Would be manipulation of data close to the elections...Now too late. The whole bunch will have to go home.

Sambo Monday, 25 March 2024 08:33 PM

We don't trust these statistics released by whatever department. It's all fabricated as the Central bank statistics. The ground reality is just the opposite.

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Unemployment rate declines to 4.3% as economy recovers

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