Sri Lanka’s employment rate shows improvement from previous year

SRI Lanka’s total employment rate among people aged 15 and above in 2025 was 96.1 per cent, a 0.5 per centage point increase from the previous year, the Department of Census and Statistics said in its latest report released on Tuesday.

The Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey 2025 showed that the country’s unemployment rate stood at 3.9 percent in the year, representing about 329,000 people who are currently looking for job opportunities.

Female unemployment was 6.1 percent, more than twice the 2.8 percent rate recorded among men. In the meantime, more than 8.6 million Sri Lankans in that age group were outside the labour force in the year, accounting for about 50.6 per cent of the population, while the labour force participation rate stood at 49.4 per cent.

Those not in the la bor force include full-time students, retirees, stay-at home parents, and other groups that are not actively seeking employment.

Women made up the majority of those outside the labour force, with about 6.19 million women com pared with 2.44 million men.

xinhua