Quantifying the Labour demand of the country was a challenge and it was a long felt need for the policy making on the matters related to the labour demand in the country, says the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS).
Issuing a statement related to such attempts carried out by the Department on first ever establishment/enterprise survey to capture the labour demand in the country in the year 2017 the DCS described following facts:
The data collection was done from a sample of 3,500 establishments/enterprises with more than three persons engaged covering the whole country. The statistics compiled with the data collected through this survey is useful for planning vocational training programmes, university programmes etc. in order to make sure that the supply of labour is matching with the demand in the country.
Issuing a communique on releasing the Report of the Labour Demand Survey- 2017, the Director General of DCS Dr. A.J.Satharasinghe stated that around 5 million people are engaged in employment in the private sector currently and 497,302 vacancies (demand) are reported for various categories of job. The highest number of employees was reported in the Services sector and among the occupation group, the highest number of employees was reported in “Service and Sales Workers” category in 2017.
Highest demand for labor is reported for Sewing Machine Operators (77,189) followed by the security guards (57,008). Among the professionals categories, high demand was reported for Mechanical Engineering technicians, Accounting Associate Professionals and Nursing professionals.
Further this survey reveals the formal sector intends to hire around 74,000 tailors dress makers and hatters and around 70,000 commercial and sales representatives in the next 12 months. The establishments/enterprises of both the formal and informal sector reported that they unable to hire sewing machine operators immediately because of scarecity. According to the employers of the private sector the first time job seekers with atleast secondary level educational background and vocational training are well prepared for the job than the recruits with only the technical and vocational training. The results reveals that team working and oral communication skills are the most needed soft skills for a good career in the private sector.