Sri Lanka / Youth unemployment one of the highest in the world, especially for young females

The World Bank’s flagship report World Development Report 2013 highlights the burning issue of youth employment in Sri Lanka, especially among females.

Jesko Hentschel, Co-Author and Deputy Director of the World Development Report 2013: Jobs said, “One of the biggest challenges facing Sri Lanka is to improve women’s employment opportunities, especially for the young female population” he said. “Around the world, we find that more women working come with real developmental gains – much beyond the income they earn from their jobs. Investment in children rises, more girls and women attend education and training classes as aspirations increase, and the way decisions in societies are being made matures.”  In 2010, only 28 percent of young women aged 15-24 participated in the labor force in Sri Lanka (compared to 50 percent of young men). The participation rate among women aged 25-64 in the same year was 43 percent, compared to 90 percent of men in the same age group.

“Social skills are becoming more and more crucial for employers”, said Hentschel. Sri Lanka is an example of a country that needs to improve employable skills. “Different from literacy and numeracy cognitive skills, we are learning that social skills are often built on the job itself – and most importantly the very first job somebody holds. This is why the transition from school to work is a crucial period in life” said the Co-Author and Deputy Director of the Report. In 2010, Sri Lanka had a youth unemployment rate of people between 16 and 24 years of age more than four times as high than the average unemployment rates – one of the highest of such ratios in the world.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor

via The Island.