Page 12 - Labour Market Information Bulletin - 2020 Volume 01

SECTION 1 | DEMAND FOR LABOUR
Labour Market Information Bulletin - Volume 1/2020

SECTION - 1 | DEMAND FOR LABOUR

Section 1 discusses the demand for labour in Sri Lanka. Demand for labour was obtained from the Newspaper
job advertisements survey done by the Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission. The Newspaper job
advertisements survey has considered two weekend newspapers, ‘Sunday Observer’ and ‘Lankadeepa’ that are
the key newspapers publishing the job advertisements in Sri Lanka. In addition, since 2008, job advertisements
published in the Government Gazette are also included in the survey. Job advertisements were counted carefully
avoiding repeating advertisements published in the two newspapers and the Government Gazette.

A considerable decline was observed of the total number of job advertisements published during the first half of
2020 compared to the corresponding period of the previous year (86,206) due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

Table 1.1: Distribution of No. of Job Advertisements Graph 1.1: Percentage Distribution
by Job Provider of Job Advertisement by Job Provider
in 1st half of 2020
1st half of
Job Provider 2018 2019
2020
99.19%
Government 674 256 246

Semi Government 1,087 570 157 0.45%
Private 213,986 159,999 54,316 0.81%
NGO 244 108 40 0.29%

Total 215,991 160,933 54,759 0.07%

Government
In the 1st half of 2020, there were 54,759 job advertisements
published in both newspapers and the Government Gazette. Semi Government
Considering the job provider, private sector has dominated
as the leading job provider with 99 percent of the total job Private
advertisements appeared in the 1st half of 2020.
NGO

Table 1.2: No. of Job advertisements by Formal/ Graph 1.2: Percentage Distribution
Informal Classification of Job Advertisements by Formal/
Informal Classification in 1st half
of 2020

Classification / 1st half of
Sector 2018 2019 2020 16.7%

Formal 42,991 27,763 9,136

Informal 173,000 133,170 45,623
Total 215,991 160,933 54,759

Informal - Taken from the Classified Advertisements

Table 1.2 reveals that, the number of job advertisements published 83.3%
under the informal classification is higher than the formal
classification. 83.3 percent of the total job advertisements were
published under the informal classification in the 1st half of 2020. Formal
Informal

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