ICT and tourism can deliver 50% of the one million jobs by 2020: Dinesh Weerakkody

The Department of Human Resources of the University of Kelaniya recently held the National Summit on People Management at Waters Edge, Colombo. The theme of the conference was ‘Peopling’ for National Wealth – Theme: ‘Arousing a new praxis of People Management for creative development’.

NHRDC Chairman and Ministry of National Policy and Economic Affairs Advisor Dinesh Weerakkody who made the keynote discussed the problems, challenges and weaknesses of the current National Human Resource Development strategy of the Government.

Weerakkody said the recently concluded Human Capital Summit organised by the Government, the private sector and the development partners identified five broad issues that need to be addressed.

The first challenge, he said, was to attract more women employees into the workforce. To achieve this target, there is a need to provide an accommodating ecosystem to attract and retain women in the workplace. Current participation is only 38%. Secondly, urgent labour law reforms are needed, he said, to drive employment creation, greater productivity, innovation, HRD and FDI.

NHRDC Chairman and Ministry of National Policy and Economic Affairs Advisor Dinesh Weerakkody

Thirdly he said Sri Lanka lacks adequate vocational and technical skills in the labour force. A high proportion of firms in Sri Lanka identify a shortage of vocational and technical skills as a major constraint compared to other middle-income and developing countries. The drive for industrial growth is especially hindered by the shortage of technically skilled labour. Therefore, TVET must be made relevant in consultation with the private sector.

Fourthly, improving access to higher education and training is a must. We spend less than 0.4% of our GDP on higher education, he said. We need to drive innovation in education, particularly online and by using modern technology including robots that will make training cost effective and in a more flexible, personalised than the present manner in which the traditional degrees or postgraduate courses are delivered.

According to Weerakkody, talent supply is another challenge. Young Lankans shun taking skilled and non-skilled jobs with a monthly pay of around Rs. 25,000-40,000 in factories and hotels but they tend to prefer to work as trishaw drivers instead; currently we have around 1.2 million trishaw drivers. Many institutions are struggling to fill vacancies. The Government needs to work with industry to address this serious issue.

Furthermore, of the working-age people with disabilities in Sri Lanka, less than half are employed – this figure should be much higher. With the right support, many more could join their ranks.

Weerakkody further observed that 50% of the one million jobs that Government hopes to create could come from the tourism and ICT sectors. Therefore we need to enhance access to ICT degrees by linking with non-State higher education providers through SLAACOM under the direction of ICTA and creating access for both local and foreign fee leaving students and providing a loan system.

Country projection – 150,000 new jobs in ICT in five years. Present maximum is 18,500 (State and non-State). Tourism sector would also create around 350,000 direct and indirect new jobs by 2020 and the yearly intake is only around 14,000 (State and non-State).Weerakkody observed that the only way these issues can be addressed is through a formal forum comprising of the private sector, Government and TU representatives and academia to set a vision and lead strategy implementation and to improve the educational outcomes and skills attainment.