Analysis of export Labour from Sri Lanka
The statistic available only
takes into consideration the skilled migration
through registration at the SLBFE. A significant
number of persons, particularly in the
professional categories are not captured in this
data.
A total of 1.2 million people
are working overseas at present. The Foreign
Employment placements have grown by 8.2 % during
the last year (according to the Sri Lanka Bureau
of Foreign Employment) and stands at 230,963
persons. As a means of mitigating overall
unemployment in Sri Lanka the Foreign Employment
market has to be promoted both locally and in
identified markets (for securing of labour
quotas) in an aggressive manner.
80% of these placement have
been to the middle -east mainly to Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE. Out of these Saudi
Arabia accounted for 33% of the market. Almost
100% of labour to Saudi Arabia has been as
House-maids.
The new government policies
stressed the importance of lowering the low
skilled migration of women workers. However,
methods employed, if any, appears not to be
effective in transferring the export labour from
the house-maids to skilled workers. 59% of total
export labour is female, however with a slight
percentage increase of Males at 41 %.This trend
of increase in male labour must be encouraged
through clear marketing and promotional
programs.
Only 20% of total export labour
is in the skilled categories. House-maids and
unskilled labour combined contribute to 72% of
labour migration. These low-yield categories
although contributing to Foreign Inward
remittances also brings along a number of social
problems in the communities and families they
leave behind, with increased crime, suicide,
alcoholism and drugs eroding the money they
bring in, due to increased social welfare costs
on the government in crime prevention, control
health and related areas.
Existing Framework of Export Labour
There are 587 licensed agencies
in Sri Lanka at present. Most agencies charge an
agency fee from the job seeking candidate, apart
from the fee covering all ticketing and visa
costs already billed by the foreign principal.
However there remain a few Recruitment agencies
that does not charge the job seeker apart from
the SLBFE stipulated registration fee, and
engage in ethical non-exploitative practices.
The persons interested in
Foreign Employment, usually registers themselves
with a Licensed Foreign Employment Agent (LFEA)
The Foreign Employment Agents contracted by
overseas recruiters send in their requirement to
the Local agent, who in turn gets the orders
cleared from the SLBFE. Once clearance is given,
the agents source the required labour directly
or through their sub-agents placed at community
level.
According to available
statistics the largest market for export labour
of Sri Lanka is the Middle East, which continues
to attract the major proportion of labour in the
unskilled categories, particularly as
Housemaids. (54%)
Out of the total placements
made during year 2005 of 230,963 the SLFEA has
been able to secure only 0.54 % with 1260
placements. The majority of the SLFEA placements
have been to Korea and Cyprus. The presence of
SLFEA in the Middle-Eastern and other markets
remain negligible.
Foreign Employment
According to the Sri Lanka
Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), foreign
employment placements grew by 8.2 per cent in
2005 to 230,963 compared to 2004. This exceeded
the midyear forecast of around 221,000 for 2005.
This increase was mainly boosted by employment
placements in the second half of the 2005, which
recorded around 119,482 compared to 111,481 in
the first half of 2005.
Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and
Qatar absorbed around 80 per cent of migrant
employees and Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE
contributed significantly to the increase in
foreign employment placements in 2005.
The demand for skilled
employees was significantly high in Qatar, while
housemaid and unskilled categories also showed a
somewhat higher demand in 2005. In contrast,
almost the entire demand for migrant workers
from Sri Lanka to Saudi Arabia and UAE was for
housemaids.
The share of male foreign
employment, which was 25 per cent in the
mid-1990s, increased from 37 per cent in 2004 to
41 per cent in 2005. The overall increase in the
share of males in total foreign employment
placements was mainly due to demand for skilled
and unskilled males for jobs in Qatar in 2005.
As a result, the share of
females declined to 59 per cent in 2005 from 63
per cent in 2004. However the share of
housemaids, who belong to the lowest income
earning group, increased to 54 per cent in 2005
from 52 per cent in 2004.
Housemaids continued to retain
the highest demand among the manpower categories
of migrant workers with a share of around 86 per
cent of the total increase of 17,511 foreign
employment placements in 2005.
Women have continued to accept
migrant jobs as housemaids, especially in Middle
Eastern countries, due to lack of employment
opportunities at home and with the hope of
accumulating significant savings. This is in
spite of increasing concerns of high risks
encountered in work places and problems in their
own families.
Foreign departures for
unskilled manpower categories remained
relatively high, though the number and share of
foreign placements in this category declined in
2005 compared to 2004.
The share of foreign departures
of housemaids and other unskilled manpower
categories is expected to decline in the near
future because of the new government policy
introduced under the budget proposals of 2006 to
encourage skills development for migrant
workers.
Foreign Employment
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