Friday, 30 May 2014 00:00
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The Government has signed two loan agreements with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to obtain financial assistance of $ 200 million to implement its Skills Sector Development Program (SSDP) that is aimed at increasing the employability of the Sri Lankan workforce, particularly youth.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that some 76 million young women and men are unemployed, an increase of 14 % from 10 years earlier. Young people are almost three times more likely to be unemployed than adults. One in five youth, or 125 million, are working but live in extreme poverty (less than $ 1/day). The issue of youth un(der)employment is a major concern for both industrialised and developing countries.
Skills development is a primary means of enabling young people to make a smooth transition to work. A comprehensive approach is required to integrate young women and men in the labour market, including relevant and quality skills training, labour market information, career guidance and employment services, recognition of prior learning, incorporating entrepreneurship with training and effective skills forecasting. Improved basic education and core work skills are particularly important to enable youth to engage in lifelong learning as well as transition to the labour market.
In many countries formal Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is an option for a small minority of young people. Apprenticeships in the informal economy offer many more young people an opportunity to learn a trade and enter the world of work.
Employability entails much more than the ability to get that first job. It is having the capacity to network and market oneself, navigate through a career and remain employable throughout life. It requires the ability to ask questions, acquire new skills, identify and evaluate options, understand rights at work including the right to a safe and healthy work environment, adapt successfully to changing situations and the courage to innovate.
For job-seekers, the simple answer is that employers are seeking recruits that are job ready, not just those with the technical skills. Employees will be able to respond quickly, reducing the time taken for a product to be conceptualised, manufactured, distributed and sold. Workers will be able to learn more quickly and perform more effectively, allowing for more innovative workplaces where employees can offer novel ideas. Enhanced flexibility means that businesses will be able to adjust quickly to technological change and organisational restructuring.
Yet the irony is that at the same time as the world struggles with youth unemployment, paradoxically, it is experiencing a skills shortage. Therefore, not only is skills development needed, new jobs need to be created too. In Sri Lanka research has shown that since the end of the war private sector job growth as only been about 1%. This creates a situation where youth are often buttonholed into jobs they are dissatisfied with as companies try to make do with less staff tied to more work.
On the flip side, stagnant job growth in the private sector pushes youth towards the public sector. Sri Lanka’s existing public carder of 1.3 million is ridiculously oversized with paralyzing politicisation, bureaucracy and red tape that have not just stifled employee growth but the function of the nation as a whole. These candidates are usually viewed as needing less skills, but in fact actually need to be at the forefront for a competent public service.
Currently youth unemployment in Sri Lanka is at 17.4%, more than three times the national average. It is unlikely skills development will have a lasting impact unless deeper structural changes take place in Sri Lanka’s job market.
