Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey

Annual Report - 2023

Department of Census and Statistics

Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies
 Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey
Annual Report - 2023

(With Provincial and District level data)

Department of Census and Statistics

Ministry of Finance, Economic Stabilization and National Policies
.
 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

SUMMARY STATISTICS

Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey - 2023

Summary Statistics on Labour Force Characteristics
15 years & over population

Indicator Total Male Female Urban Rural

Population (15 years & over) 17,306,492 8,024,760 9,281,733 2,982,507 14,323,985
Labour force in this age group 8,408,331 5,503,595 2,904,736 1,370,780 7,037,551
Labour force participation rate 48.6 68.6 31.3 46.0 49.1
Employed population 8,009,916 5,307,563 2,702,354 1,308,213 6,701,703
Employment rate 95.3 96.4 93.0 95.4 95.2
Unemployed population 398,415 196,032 202,382 62,566 335,848
Unemployment rate 4.7 3.6 7.0 4.6 4.8
Not in labour force 8,898,161 2,521,164 6,376,997 1,611,727 7,286,434

18 years & over population

Indicator Total Male Female Urban Rural

Population (18 years & over) 16,203,545 7,466,879 8,736,666 2,796,368 13,407,177
Labour force in this age group 8,379,582 5,480,875 2,898,707 1,368,124 7,011,458
Labour force participation rate 51.7 73.4 33.2 48.9 52.3
Employed population 7,990,633 5,292,221 2,698,412 1,306,627 6,684,006
Employment rate 95.4 96.6 93.1 95.5 95.3
Unemployed population 388,949 188,654 200,295 61,497 327,452
Unemployment rate 4.6 3.4 6.9 4.5 4.7
Not in labour force 7,823,963 1,986,004 5,837,959 1,428,244 6,395,719

20 years & over population

Indicator Total Male Female Urban Rural

Population (20 years & over) 15,493,018 7,111,181 8,381,837 2,692,765 12,800,253
Labour force in this age group 8,273,778 5,404,462 2,869,317 1,352,209 6,921,569
Labour force participation rate 53.4 76.0 34.2 50.2 54.1
Employed population 7,915,101 5,235,559 2,679,541 1,295,716 6,619,385
Employment rate 95.7 96.9 93.4 95.8 95.6
Unemployed population 358,678 168,902 189,775 56,493 302,184
Unemployment rate 4.3 3.1 6.6 4.2 4.4
Not in labour force 7,219,240 1,706,720 5,512,520 1,340,555 5,878,685

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Selected Labour Force Indicators …

Year
Indicator
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Labour force participation rate
By Gender
Total 53.8 54.1 51.8 52.3 50.6 49.9 49.8 48.6
Male 75.1 74.5 73.0 73.0 71.9 71.0 70.5 68.6
Female 35.9 36.6 33.6 34.5 32.0 31.8 32.1 31.3
By residential sector
Total 53.8 54.1 51.8 52.3 50.6 49.9 49.8 48.6
Urban 49.8 50.5 49.6 50.2 47.0 46.9 47.2 46.0
Rural 54.6 54.8 52.3 52.7 51.3 50.5 50.3 49.1
Unemployment Rate
By Gender
Total 4.4 4.2 4.4 4.8 5.5 5.1 4.7 4.7
Male 2.9 2.9 3.0 3.3 4.0 3.7 3.7 3.6
Female 7.0 6.5 7.1 7.4 8.5 7.9 6.5 7.0
By selected age Group (Year)
20 – 29 14.2 13.5 15.0 15.3 18.1 18.3 16.2 17.0
20 – 24 19.9 17.8 20.1 20.3 25.2 26.8 21.8 21.6
25 – 29 9.2 9.5 10.4 11.0 12.0 11.4 11.7 13.0
By selected educational level
A/L & above
Total 8.3 8.1 9.1 8.5 9.8 9.1 7.8 8.0
Male 4.7 5.0 5.1 5.0 6.2 6.2 5.5 5.8
Female 11.9 11.3 13.2 11.9 13.6 12.2 10.1 10.2
Employed population
By Gender
Total 7,947,683 8,208,179 8,015,166 8,180,693 7,999,093 8,113,507 8,147,731 8,009,916
Male 5,149,948 5,279,158 5,300,310 5,368,896 5,372,947 5,414,280 5,373,965 5,307,563
Female 2,797,735 2,929,021 2,714,855 2,811,796 2,626,146 2,699,228 2,773,766 2,702,354
By industry (Percentage)
Total 7,947,683 8,208,179 8,015,166 8,180,693 7,999,093 8,113,507 8,147,731 8,009,916
% 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Agriculture 2,153,874 2,140,185 2,043,698 2,071,940 2,169,679 2,213,015 2,158,559 2,088,344
% 27.1 26.1 25.5 25.3 27.1 27.3 26.5 26.1
Industry 2,097,503 2,331,494 2,239,262 2,258,421 2,152,746 2,109,482 2,158,199 2,043,154
% 26.4 28.4 27.9 27.6 26.9 26.0 26.5 25.5
Services 3,696,306 3,736,500 3,732,206 3,850,332 3,676,668 3,791,011 3,830,973 3,878,418
% 46.5 45.5 46.6 47.1 46.0 46.7 47.0 48.4
By no. of hours worked per week (percentage)
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
* 4.2
0 4.4 4.7 5.6 6.4 14.6 9.6 5.8
1–9 1.5 1.7 1.7 1.7 2.1 2.0 2.1 2.4
10 – 39 26.2 26.1 25.7 26.8 27.1 29.6 31.9 31.2
40 & above 67.9 67.5 66.9 65.1 56.2 58.7 60.3 62.1

* Has a job but not at work during the reference week

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Content
Page
Preface .............................................................................................................................. Ι
Acknowledgement ............................................................................................................ ΙΙ
Summary Statistics............................................................................................................. ΙΙΙ

Chapter 1 : Introduction 1-2

1.1 General Background 1
1.2 Coverage of the Survey 1
1.3 Field Work 2
1.4 Survey Schedule and CAPI Programme 2
1.5 New Concepts and Classifications 2
1.6 Field Supervision 2
Chapter 2 : Survey Methodology and Estimation Procedure 3-6
2.1 Sampling plan and the sampling frame 3
2.2 Sample size 3
2.3 Sample Allocation 3
2.4 Selection of Primary Sampling Units (PSU) 3
2.5 Selection of Secondary Sampling Units (SSU) 3
2.6 Estimation procedure 5
2.7 Adjustment for unit non-response 6
Chapter 3 : Economically Active / Inactive Population 7 - 14
3.1 Economically Active Population 8
3.2 Distribution of Economically Active Population 8
3.3 Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) 9
3.4 Economically Inactive Population 11
3.5 Characteristics of the “Economically Inactive” Population 12
3.6 Economically Iactive Rate 13
3.7 Potential Labour Force 13
3.8 Discourage Job Seekers 14
Chapter 4 : Employment 15 - 22
4.1 Employment By Major Industry Group 16
4.2 Employment by Status of Employment 18
4.3 Employment By Level of Education 19
4.4 Employment By Occupation 19
4.5 Average Gross Wage/Salary & Income 20
4.6 Employment to Population ratio 22
Chapter 5 : Unemployment 23 -31
5.1 Unemployment Rate by Sector and Gender 24
5.2 Annual Unemployment Rates 25
5.3 Unemployment Rate by Province 26
5.4 Youth unemployment in Sri Lanka 27
5.5 Ratio of the youth unemployment rate to the adult unemployment rate 28
5.6 Youth unemployment as a proportion of total unemployment 28
5.7 Youth unemployment as a proportion of total youth population 29
5.8 The youth Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) group 29

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Chapter 6 : Underemployment 32 - 35
6.1 Criteria for classification of Underemployment 33
6.2 Distribution of Underemployment Rate 33
6.3 Underemployment / Unemployment by Province and District 34

Chapter 7 : Informal Sector Employment 36 – 39

7.1 The Informal Economy 37
7.2 Distribution of Informal/Formal sector Employment 37
7.3 Distribution of Informal sector Employment 39
Chapter 8 : Total Jobs in Sri Lanka with Secondary Employment 40 - 44
8.1 Secondary Employment in Sri Lanka 41
8.2 Total Jobs in Sri Lanka 43
Chapter 9 : Informal Employment in Sri Lanka 45 - 49
9.1 Concept of Informal Employment & Conceptual Framework 46
9.2 Distribution of Informal/ Formal Employment 47
Chapter 10 : Literacy 50 - 52
10.1 Distribution of Literacy Rate 51
Chapter 11 : Computer Literacy 53 - 57
11.1 Household Computer Ownership 54
11.2 Computer Literacy and Digital Literacy 54
11.3 Source of Computer Training 56
11.4 Internet and E-mail use 57
Statistical Appendix 58 - 82
Special Statistical Appendix 83 - 91

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

List of Tables

Chapter 2: Survey Methodology and Estimation Procedure

Table 2.1: Sample allocation by district – 2023 3

Chapter 3: Economically Active / Inactive Population

Table 3.1: Economically active / inactive population by gender – 2023 8
Table 3.2: Economically active population by gender and sector – 2023 8
Table 3.3: Percentage distribution of economically active population by gender and district – 9
2023
Table 3.4: Labour Force participation rates by age group, gender and sector – 2023 9
Table 3.5: Labour Force participation rates by gender and district – 2023 10
Table 3.6: Economically inactive population by gender and sector – 2023 11
Table 3.7: Economically inactive population by level of education – 2023 11
Table 3.8: Economically inactive population by age group and gender – 2023 12
Table 3.9: Reasons of being economically inactive by gender – 2023 12

Table 3.10: Percentage distribution of inactive population by stated reasons, age and gender – 12
2023
Table 3.11: Distribution of economically inactive rate by standardized age group – 2023 13

Table 3.12: Potential labour force by year and gender, 2020 – 2023 14

Table 3.13: Discourage Job Seekers by gender – 2023 14

Chapter 4: Employment
Table 4.1: Employed population by major industry group, 2017 – 2023 16
Table 4.2: Percentage distribution of employed population by major industry group for each 17
district – 2023
Table 4.3: Percentage distribution of employed population by employment status for each 18
district – 2023
Table 4.4: Employed population by employment status and by gender- 2023 18
Table 4.5: Employed population by occupation and gender – 2023 19
Table 4.6: Mean & median monthly gross salary by gender – 2023 20
Table 4.7: Mean & median monthly gross salary by sector – 2023 20
Table 4.7.1: Mean and median monthly gross salary by sector – 2023 20
Table 4.8: Mean & median monthly income by sector (for Own Account Workers and Employers) 20
– 2023
Table 4.8.1: Mean & median monthly income by sector (Own Account Workers and Employers), 20
2021 – 2023
Table 4.9: Mean & median monthly gross salary by major industry group – 2023 20

Table 4.10: Employment to population ratio by sector and gender – 2023 22

Table 4.11: Employment to population ratio by standardized age group & gender – 2023 22

Table 4.12: Employment to population ratio, 2017 – 2023 22

Chapter 5: Unemployment
Table 5.1: Unemployed number and unemployment rate by gender and sector – 2023 24
Table 5.2: Unemployment Rates, 2016 – 2023 24
Table 5.3: Unemployment rate by district – 2023 24
Table 5.4: Unemployment rate by age group and gender - 2023 25
Table 5.5: Unemployment rate by level of education – 2023 25
Table 5.5a: Unemployment of the Graduates – 2023 (Age 20 & above) 25
Table 5.6: Unemployment rate percentage distribution of employment status for each province 27
– 2023

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 5.7: Youth unemployment rate by Province, 2019 – 2023 27

Table 5.8: Youth unemployment rate by level of education, 2019 – 2023 28
Table 5.9: Ratio of the youth unemployment rate to the adult unemployment rate by gender, 28
2019– 2023
Table 5.10: Youth unemployment as a proportion of total unemployment by gender and level of 29
education – 2023
Table 5.11: Youth unemployment as a proportion of total youth population by gender and level 29
of education – 2023
Table 5.12: Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET) by gender, 2019 – 2023 30
Table 5.13: NEET rate (NEET group as a percentage to total youth) by gender, 2019 – 2023 30
Table 5.14: NEET rate (NEET group as a percentage to total youth) by level of education and 30
gender – 2023
Chapter 6: Underemployment
Table 6.1: Underemployment rate by major industry group – 2023 33
Table 6.2: Underemployment rate by gender, 2019 – 2023 33
Table 6.3: Underemployment rate by level of education and gender – 2023 34
Table 6.4: Underemployment rate / unemployment rate / percentage of informal employment 34
by district – 2023
Chapter 7: Informal Sector Employment
Table 7.1: Composition of Informal / Formal sector employment by economic sector – 2023 37
Table 7.2: Distribution of Informal / Formal sector employment by gender – 2023 37
Table 7.3: Distribution of Informal / Formal sector employment by level of education – 2023 38
Table 7.4: Distribution of Informal / Formal sector employment by employment status – 2023 38
Table 7.5: Distribution of Informal / Formal sector employment by main occupation – 2023 38
Table 7.6: Distribution of Informal sector employment in Non- Agricultural sector by district – 39
2023
Chapter 8: Total Jobs in Sri Lanka with Secondary Employment
Table 8.1: Distribution of employed population & total jobs by main and secondary job (2019 – 41
2023)
Table 8.2: Distribution of employed population by main and secondary job and by sector – 2023 41
Table 8.3: Percentage distribution of secondary employment by employment status & gender – 42
2023
Table 8.4: Distribution of secondary employment by occupation group – 2023 42
Table 8.5: Contribution of secondary employment to informal / formal sector by major industry 42
group – 2023
Table 8.6: Distribution of total jobs by sector– 2023 43
Table 8.7: Distribution of total jobs by level of education – 2023 43
Table 8.8: Distribution of total jobs by age groups – 2023 44
Table 8.9: Distribution of total jobs by major industry groups – 2023 44
Chapter 9: Informal Employment in Sri Lanka
Table 9.1: Conceptual framework informal employment – 2023 46
Table 9.2: Composition of informal / formal employment by economic sector – 2023 47
Table 9.3: Distribution of informal / formal employment by gender - 2023 47
Table 9.4: Distribution of informal / formal employment by level of education - 2023 47
Table 9.5: Distribution of informal / formal employment by employment status - 2023 47
Table 9.6: Distribution of informal / formal employment by occupation - 2023 48
Table 9.7: Composition of informal / formal employment in non-agriculture sector – 2023 48
Table 9.8: Composition of employment in non-agriculture sector by sex– 2023 48
Table 9.9: Percentage of informal employment in Non-agriculture sector - 2023 48
Table 9.10: Distribution of informal employees by job important characteristics - 2023 49

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Chapter 10: Literacy

Table 10.1: Literacy rate by sector & gender 2019 - 2023 51
Table 10.2: Literacy rate by district and gender – 2023 51
Table 10.3: Literacy rate by age group & gender – 2023 52
Chapter 11: Computer Literacy
Table 11.1: Percentage of computer owned households by sector, province and survey year, 54
2020 – 2023
Table 11.2: Computer literacy rate by sector, province and survey year, 2020 – 2023 55
Table 11.3: Computer literacy rate by gender, age, level of education and language literacy, 55
2020 – 2023
Table 11.4: Computer literacy among computer aware employed population (aged 15 – 69 56
years) by occupation, 2020 – 2023
Table 11.5: Computer literacy among unemployed population (age 15 – 69 years) by age group, 56
2020 – 2023
Table 11.6: Computer literacy rate and Digital literacy rate by gender, sector and age groups – 56
2023
Table 11.7: Percentage distribution of computer literate household population (age 5 – 69 years) 57
by sources of receiving computer knowledge and sector – 2023
Table 11.8: Percentage distribution of internet and e- mail using household population (age 5 – 57
69 years) by age groups, 2020 – 2023
Table 11.9: Percentage distribution of device use to connect to internet/ e-mail household 57
population (aged 5 – 69 years) by sex, sector and age groups – 2023

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

List of Figures
Page
Chapter 3: Economically Active / Inactive Population
Figure 3.1: Economically active population by gender and sector – 2023 8
Figure 3.2: Percentage distribution of working age population by economic status and 8
gender – 2023
Figure 3.3: Labour Force participation rate by gender and level of education - 2023 10
Figure 3.4: Labour Force participation rate by gender and age group – 2023 10
Figure 3.5: Annual labour force participation rates, 2017 – 2023 11
Figure 3.6: Economically inactive population by gender – 2023 11
Figure 3.7: Economically active and inactive population by age group – 2023 12
Figure 3.8: Reasons of being economically inactive – 2023 13
Figure 3.9: Discourage Job Seekers by gender – 2023 14

Chapter 4: Employment
Figure 4.1: Employed population by major industry group, 2017 – 2023 16
Figure 4.2: Employed population by major industry group – 2023 16
Figure 4.3: Share of agriculture, industry and service sector to the total employment by 17
province – 2023
Figure 4.4: Employment status by gender – 2023 18
Figure 4.5: Employed population by employment status – 2023 18
Figure 4.6: Employed population by major industry group and employment status – 2023 19
Figure 4.7: Employed population by level of education, 2017 – 2023 19
Figure 4.8: Average gross wage/salary by major industry group – 2023 21
Figure 4.9: Mean & median monthly salary of paid employees - district level – 2023 21

Chapter 5: Unemployment
Figure 5.1: Unemployment rate by gender & sector – 2023 24
Figure 5.2: Unemployment rate by age group and gender – 2023 25
Figure 5.3: Unemployment rate by gender, 2016 – 2023 25
Figure 5.4: Unemployment rates, 2016 – 2023 26
Figure 5.5: Unemployment rate by province – 2023 26
Figure 5.6: Share of contributing family workers to the employment for each province – 26
2023
Figure 5.7: Youth unemployment rate, 2019 – 2023 27
Figure 5.8: Youth unemployment rate by gender, 2019 – 2023 28
Figure 5.9: Youth unemployment as a proportion of total unemployment by Province – 2023 28
Figure 5.10: Distribution of youth population by different economic conditions – 2023 30

Chapter 6: Underemployment
Figure 6.1: Underemployment rate by major industry group – 2023 33
Figure 6.2: Underemployment / Unemployment rates by province – 2023 34

Chapter 7: Informal Sector Employment

Figure 7.1: Distribution of Informal / Formal sector employment by economic sector – 2023 37
Figure 7.2: Distribution of informal sector employment by major industry group – 2023 39

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Chapter 8: Total Jobs in Sri Lanka with Secondary Employment

Figure 8.1: Distribution of employed population by considering secondary job by major 41
industry groups – 2023
Figure 8.2: Distribution of employed population by considering main job by major industry 41
groups – 2023
Figure 8.3: Percentage distribution of secondary employment by employment status by 42
gender – 2023
Figure 8.4: Distribution of secondary employment by level of education – 2023 42
Figure 8.5: Contribution of secondary employment to the informal / formal sector by major 43
industry groups – 2023
Figure 8.6: Percentage distribution of jobs in Sri Lanka by gender – 2023 43
Figure 8.7: Distribution of jobs by major industry groups – 2023 44

Chapter 9: Informal Employment in Sri Lanka

Figure 9.1: Conceptual framework (17th ICLS Guidelines) 46
Figure 9.2: Distribution of total employment, informal employment, informal sector – 2023 47
Figure 9.3: Distribution of informal / formal employment by economic sector – 2023 47
Figure 9.4: Distribution of informal employment in non-agriculture sector by district – 2023 49

Chapter 10: Literacy

Figure 10.1: Literacy rates by district – 2023 51

Chapter 11: Computer Literacy

Figure 11.1: Percentage of desktop or laptop computer owned households by province – 54
2023
Figure 11.2: Distribution of computer literacy rate by educational attainment and language 55
literacy – 2020 – 2023
Figure 11.3: Percentage distribution of internet and e – mail using household population 57
(age 5 – 69 years) by age group – 2023

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

List of Maps
Page

Map 1: Sample allocation by district – 2023 4

Map 2: Labour force participation rates by district – 2023 11

Map 3: Unemployment rate by district – 2023 31

Map 4: Percentage distribution of employed population in agriculture sector by district – 2023 31

Map 5: Percentage distribution of employed population in industry sector by district – 2023 31

Map 6: Percentage distribution of employed population in service sector by district – 2023 31

Map 7: Underemployment rate by district – 2023 35

Map 8: Participation rate of informal sector in non-agriculture sector by district – 2023 39

Map 9: Literacy rate by district – 2023 52

Appendix
Page

Statistical Appendix 58 - 82

Special Statistical Appendix 83 - 91

Explanatory Notes 78

Standard Error and Coefficient of Variation table 88

Alternative Estimates 89

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

List of Tables in Statistical Appendix

1. Historical table of labour force status (current) of the household population, 15 years of age and
over – Both sexes
1A. Historical table of labour force status (current) of the household population, 15 years of age and
over – Male
1B. Historical table of labour force status (current) of the household population, 15 years of age and
over – Female
2 labour force status (current) of the household population 15 years of age and over, by age – Both
sexes
2A. labour force status (current) of the household population 15 years of age and over, by age –
Male
2B. labour force status (current) of the household population 15 years of age and over, by age –
Female
3. Historical table of currently employed persons by age groups (percentage) – Both sexes
3A. Historical table of currently employed persons by age groups (percentage) – Male
3B. Historical table of currently employed persons by age groups (percentage) – Female
4. Historical table of currently employed persons by level of education (percentage) – Both sexes
4A. Historical table of currently employed persons by level of education (percentage) – Male
4B. Historical table of currently employed persons by level of education (percentage) – Female
5. Historical table of currently employed persons by employment status (percentage) – Both sexes
5A. Historical table of currently employed persons by employment status (percentage) – Male
5B. Historical table of currently employed persons by employment status (percentage) – Female
6. Currently employed persons by industry group – Both sexes (Based on ISIC fourth revision)
6A. Currently employed persons by industry group – Male (Based on ISIC fourth revision)
6B. Currently employed persons by industry group – Female (Based on ISIC fourth revision)
6C. Historical table of currently employed population by major industry group – Both sexes
6D. Historical table of currently employed population by major industry group (percentage) – Both
sexes
7. Currently employed persons by occupation group – Both sexes (Based on ISCO 08)
7A. Currently employed persons by occupation group – Male (Based on ISCO 08)
7B. Currently employed persons by occupation group – Female (Based on ISCO 08)
8. Currently employed persons by hours per week actually worked at the main job and major
industrial group (percentage) – Both sexes
9. Historical table of currently unemployed persons by age groups (percentage) – Both sexes
9A. Historical table of currently unemployed persons by age groups (percentage) – Male
9B. Historical table of currently unemployed persons by age groups (percentage) – Female
10. Historical table of currently unemployed persons by level of education (percentage) – Both sexes
10A. Historical table of currently unemployed persons by level of education (percentage) – Male
10B. Historical table of currently unemployed persons by level of education (percentage) – Female
11. Currently unemployed persons by sex and duration of unemployment
12. Labour force status (current) of the household population, 15 years of age and over by district –
Both sexes

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12A. Labour force status (current) of the household population, 15 years of age and over by district –
Male
12B. Labour force status (current) of the household population, 15 years of age and over by district –
Female
13. Employment by major industry groups by district– Both sexes
13A. Employment by major industry groups by district – Male
13B. Employment by major industry groups by district – Female
14. Currently employed persons by occupation group (based on ISCO 08) by province – Both sexes
15. Currently employed persons by industry group (based on ISIC fourth revision) by province
– Both sexes
16. Currently employed persons by employment status by province – Both sexes
16A. Currently employed persons by employment status by province – Male
16B. Currently employed persons by employment status by province – Female
17. Currently employed persons by hours per week actually worked at the main job by district
– Both sexes
17A. Currently employed persons by hours per week actually worked at the main job by district – Male
17B. Currently employed persons by hours per week actually worked at the main job by district –
Female
18. Unemployment rate by level of education by province – Both sexes
19. Unemployment rate by age group by province – Both sexes
20. Employment in formal/informal employment by status in employment – Both sexes

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 General Background A reweighting was applied to data series from

2011 – 2015 and was published in 2016 Annual
In the past, information on labour force report and by a special Bulletin. In 2017 Computer
characteristics, employment, and unemployment Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) was
etc. were collected through the labour force and introduced for the survey. At the end of year 2017
socio-economic surveys conducted at five year CAPI method was fully implemented throughout
time intervals. But the government required the the country and the Department Officers allocated
employment and unemployment data at very short to each DS Division used tablet computers to
intervals to monitor the progress of the collect data of Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey.
employment generating policies of the country.
1.2 Coverage of the survey
Therefore, to cater the demand, the Department of
Census and Statistics (DCS) designed a Labour LFS was conducted throughout the island during
Force Survey (LFS) on a quarterly basis to measure the first quarter of 1990. Thereafter, till year 2003
the levels and trends of employment, Northern and Eastern provinces were not covered
unemployment and labour force in Sri Lanka on a from the survey due to the prevailed situation in
continuous basis. This survey commenced from the those areas. In 2003, DCS was able to conduct the
first quarter 1990 with USAID technical assistance survey in Eastern province and in 2004 and 2005;
and is being continued by the DCS. the survey covered all 25 districts. Though it was
planned to conduct LFS covering whole Island, it
Since 1990, DCS was able to continue this survey
was not able to cover districts of Northern &
quarterly, except in second quarter in 2001 due to
Eastern provinces completely in 2006, 2007 years.
heavy work load of the Census of Population and
Since completed schedules received from those
Housing in 2001. Again, in 2005 due to Tsunami,
districts were not sufficient enough to give reliable
LFS was not implemented on quarterly basis as
estimates. Therefore, Northern and Eastern
scheduled. Because the staff of DCS were involved
provinces were not included in annual estimates of
the activities of “Census of Tsunami”, which was
2006 & 2007. From year 2008 onward the survey
conducted in February 2005 to provide the
covered whole country except Northern Province
information on impact of Tsunami. Also the sample
until 2011. From 2011 the survey covers all
frame, used for Household survey program had to
provinces of the country. However, due to the
be updated with the results of the “Listing
heavy work load of the Census of Population and
operation” conducted in Tsunami affected districts.
Housing – 2012, the survey could not be
Hence in 2005 August LFS was conducted as a
conducted in 4th quarter 2011 and 1st quarter 2012.
special survey at one point of time. Yet again in 4th
From 2013 onward, the survey covered whole
quarter 2011 & 1st quarter 2012 the survey could
country and conducted in all four quarters of every
not be conducted, due to the activities of Census
year.
of Population and Housing in 2011. However,
except these conditions the DCS was able to This 2023 report is based on an annual sample of
continue the survey successfully since 1990. The 25,750 housing units, also provides national,
information collected from LFS use to derive provincial and district level estimates with a
labour market indicators to monitor the current stipulated standard errors of labour force statistics
performance of the economy and also they are as reported in the relevant reference period of
used to evaluate government policies and each month of the year 2023. This survey covers
programs, and hence, LFS plays an important role persons living in housing units only and, it excludes
focusing several perspectives. the institutional population.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

1.3 Field Work

The field work of the survey for the year 2023 was The revisions focused on literacy, computer
conducted from January to December. The census literacy, household economic activities, informal
blocks prepared at 2012 population census were sector, employment and underemployment.
used as primary sampling units. Listing operation However, the comparability of data has
for primary sampling unit update was conducted, maintained.
at this survey.
1.5 New Concepts and Classifications
In 2017, CAPI was introduced in 1st quarter and the
field staff was trained. Eventually, at the end of From 2013, onward the working age population is
year 2017 CAPI method was established in all considered as aged 15 and above persons. Before
districts for data collection and manual editing also 2013 this was considered as age 10 years above.
had done where necessary. From 2013 onward, the survey uses Sri Lanka
Standard Classification of Occupation - 2008
The field staff of the DCS involved in survey data (SLSCO – 08) to classify occupations. This
collection activities specially trained for CAPI Classification is derived from the International
method. A Deputy Director/Senior Statistician/ Standard Classification of Occupation – 2008
Statistician attached to each District Secretariat are (ISCO – 08). Also, the survey uses Sri Lanka
responsible for coordination and supervision Standard Industry Classification Rev. 4 (SLSIC
activities at district level. Rev.4) derived from the International Standard
Industry Classification Rev.4 (ISIC Rev.4) for
1.4 Survey Schedule and CAPI Industry classification.
Programme

Current survey concepts and methods are very

1.6 Field Supervision
similar to those introduced at the beginning. Regular field supervisions were carried out
However, some changes have been made over the throughout the year to check the concepts and
years in 2006, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018 to definitions are being used by the enumerators
improve the accuracy and usefulness of the data. accurately.

Diagram 1: Components of Economically Active and Economically Inactive Population

Working Age Population

(15 years and above)

Economically Active Economically Inactive

Population Population
(Labour Force)

Employed Unemployed Full Time Persons Retired/ Infirmed/ Potential

Population Population Students engaged in Old Age Disabled Labour
HH duties Force

1
See the Attached Questionnaire

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

CHAPTER TWO

2.1 Sampling plan and the sampling Table 2.1: Sample allocation by district - 2023

frame
No. of No. of
Two stage stratified sampling procedure is District Housing District Housing
Units Units
adopted to select a sample of 25,750 housing
units to be enumerated at the survey. The Total 25,750 Mullaitivu 410
sampling frame prepared for 2012 Census of Colombo 2,420 Kilinochchi 410
Population and Housing is used as the sampling
Gampaha 2,600 Batticaloa 760
frame for the sample selection of LFS in 2023.
Kalutara 1,200 Ampara 900

2.2 Sample size Kandy 1,760 Trincomalee 540

Matale 720 Kurunegala 1920
At the beginning in 1990, the sample size was
2,000 housing units per quarter in areas other than Nuwara Eliya 800 Puttalam 840
North and East, and the sample size was increased Galle 1,360 Anuradhapura 900
to 4,000 housing units per quarter in 1996 and 1,180 Polonnaruwa 660
Matara
continued thereafter. In 1992, 1997 and in 2004
Hambantota 900 Badulla 900
an annual sample of 20,000 housing units was
selected to give reliable estimates by district level. Jaffna 720 Monaragala 600
However, in order to provide district level Mannar 420 Rathnapura 1280
estimates precisely, it was decided to use 20,000 – Vavuniya 490 Kegalle 1060
25,000 housing units as the annual sample from
2006 to 2010. In 2023 25,750 Housing units were
2.4 Selection of Primary Sampling Units
selected for the sample.
(PSU)

2.3 Sample Allocation Primary sampling units are the census blocks
In 2023, 2575 Primary Sampling Units (PSU’s) were prepared at the Census of Population and
allocated to each district and to each sector Housing - 2012.
(Urban, Rural and Estate) by using the Neymann
allocation method which considers the variance of 2.5 Selection of Secondary Sampling
unemployment rate as usually. The allocated Units (SSU)
sample for each district then equally distributed
for 12 months. Table 2.1 gives the sample Secondary Sampling Units are the housing units
distributions by district for year 2023. in the selected 2575 primary sampling units
(census blocks). From each selected primary
The survey was conducted from January till sampling unit, 10 housing units (SSU) are selected
December in 2023. for the survey using systematic random sampling
method.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Map 1: Sample allocation by district – 2023

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

2.6 
Estimation procedure
Let X jk be the estimate of any given characteristic for jth district for the kth month.
This could be given by,

 1 m jk (u ) 1 N h (u ) nh (u ) 1 m jk ( r ) 1 N h ( r ) n h ( r )
X jk    X hi ( u )    X hi ( r )
m jk(r) h ( r )  1 P h ( r ) n h ( r ) i ( r )  1
mjk(u) h ( u )  1 Ph (u ) nh (u ) i ( u )  1

1 m jk ( e ) 1 N h ( e ) n h ( e )
   X hi ( e )
m jk(e) h ( e )  1 P h ( e ) n h ( e ) i ( e )  1
Where
mjk (u ) = Number of census blocks selected from the urban sector of the jth district for the kth survey
month.
Ph (u ) = Selection probability of the hth census block in the urban sector.

Sjh ( u )
Ph ( u ) 
Mjh (u )
 Sjh (u )
h 1

Sjh (u ) = Measure of size (number of housing units) of the hth census block in the urban sector
of the jth district.
Mjh (u ) = Total number of census blocks in urban sector of the jth district.
th
Nh (u ) = Total number of housing units listed in the h census block in the urban sector.
nh (u ) = Number of housing units selected from the hth census block in the urban sector.
th th
Xhi (u ) = The observed value for the i sample household in the h census block in the urban
sector.
mjk(r), Ph(r), Sjh(r), Mjh(r), Nh(r), nh(r), and Xhi(r) are corresponding terms for the rural sector and
mjk (e), Ph (e), Sjh (e), Mjh (e), Nh (e), nh (e), and Xhi (e) are corresponding terms for the estate sector.

The estimate for the total value of a characteristic for the country for month k,

 25 
Xk  X
j 1
jk 1

The estimate for the total value of a characteristic for the jth district, based on all 12 rounds.

 12 
1
Xj
12
 X jk
k 1
2

The total estimate for the total value of a characteristic for the urban sector for the country,
based on all 12 rounds.

12 25 
 1
Xu 
12
 X
k 1 j 1
jk ( u ) 3

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Where


1 mjk ( u ) 1 Nh ( u ) nh ( u )
X jk ( u )    Xhi ( u )
mjk(u) h ( u )  1 Ph ( u ) nh ( u ) i ( u )  1
 
Similarly Xr and X e , Rural and Estate sector estimates for the country can be obtained.

2.7 Adjustment for unit non-response

The occurrence of unit non-response was determined by examining the final result code recorded under
control data section of the schedule. Based on the final result codes the households were grouped into
the following categories, which were used as a basis for adjusting for the unit non-response.

Category and description Result code

1. Schedule completed 1
2. Housing unit demolished or vacant 3
3. Unable to complete schedule, refusal, 2,4,5,6,7
temporarily away etc.

Category 1 and 2
These were considered as fully accounted for as a schedule was completed to the extent required by the
situation at the time of interview and therefore no adjustment was necessary.

Category 3
This is incomplete therefore, a non-response adjustment was made for this category. The assumption
made here for the adjustment of non-response was the proportion of households in category 3 is the
same as the corresponding proportion for sample households in category 1. This assumption is applied
on a block-by-block basis separately for urban, rural and estate sectors. The block weight before
adjusting for unit non-response was

mjk
1 1 Nh
W h 
mjk
P
h 1 h nh

Where, Nh = Total number of housing units listed in block h.

nh = Number of housing units selected in block h.
The revised weight should take the form
1
 n h  nh 2 
Wh  W h .  
 nh1 
Where, nh1 = Number of sample households in category 1.
nh2 = Number of sample households in category 2.
n1h = Total number of households in all categories (category 1, 2 and 3) = (nh)

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

CHAPTER THREE

Labour force or synonymously currently

economically active population is one of the
most widely used measures of the labour market.
HIGHLIGHTS
It measures employment and unemployment
situation of the economy and the current
Estimated Household
employment characteristics of the population. Population
(15 year & over)

Sri Lanka 17,306,492

Working Age Population: All persons of age 15 years
and above are considered to be in the working age Male 8,024,760
population (from year 2013 onward). Female 9,281,733

Economically Active Population: All persons who

are/were employed or unemployed during the
reference period of the survey are referred to as Labour Force (LF)
economically active (the reference period is “previous
Sri Lanka 8,408,331
one week” for currently economically active
population). Male 5,503,595

Economically Inactive Population: All persons who Female 2,904,736

neither worked nor available/looking for work during
the reference period.

LF Participation Rate
Labour Force: The labour force is composed of
currently economically active population 15 years of Sri Lanka 48.6
age and over.
Male 68.6

Female 31.3

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

3.1 Economically active population population is male. The corresponding figure for
Rural sector is 65.5 percent. Also percentage of
The “economically active population" is defined
economically active female population in Urban
broadly as comprising of all persons above a
and Rural sectors are reported as 33.7 percent
specific age (15 years and above) of either gender
and 34.5 percent respectively and in the Estate
who furnish the supply of labour for the
sector, this value is 39.2 percent. The female
production of economic goods and services
participation is higher in the Estate sector
during a specified time (reference period). The
compared to Urban and Rural Sectors.
currently economically active population or the
‘labour force’ is usually recognized as the sum of
Figure 3.1:
‘employed’ and ‘unemployed’ population.
Economically active population by gender and
sector - 2023
3.2 Distribution of economically active
population
In 2023, estimated economically active population
Estate 60.8 39.2
is around 8.4 million, and of that about 65.5
Male
percent are male. That is about 5.5 million (Table
3.1). Rural 65.5 34.5
Female

Table 3.1: Economically active / inactive population Urban 66.3 33.7

by gender – 2023
0% 50% 100%
Economically Economically
Gender active inactive
No. % No. %
Figure 3.2:
Total 8,408,331 100.0 8,898,161 100.0
Percentage distribution of working age
Male 5,503,595 65.5 2,521,164 28.3 population by economic status and gender -
2,904,736 34.5 6,376,997 71.7
2023
Female
Economicaly 31.4%
Inactive 68.7%
Majority among the economically inactive
population are females (71.7%). That is about 6.4 38.1%
Employee
million. 18.0%

Table 3.2: Economically active population by gender Own account 24.3%

and sector - 2023 worker 7.3%
Labour Force

Gender
Sector Total Contributing 1.4%
Male Female family worker 3.6%
No. 8,408,331 5,503,595 2,904,736
Total 2.3%
% 100.0 65.5 34.5 Employer
0.3%
No. 1,370,780 908,246 462,534
Urban 2.4%
% 100.0 66.3 33.7 Unemployed
2.2%
No. 6,666,642 4,369,899 2,296,743
Rural
% 100.0 65.5 34.5
Male Female
No. 370,909 225,450 145,459
Estate Figure 3.2 illustrates the distribution of age 15 and
% 100.0 60.8 39.2
above population by gender and their economic
status. Considering the economic status by
Distribution of economically active population by gender, majority of female population is in
gender and sectors are given by Table 3.2 and economically inactive group (68.7%) while majority
Figure 3.1. According to the Table 3.2, in Urban of male population is in employee group (38.1%).
sector 66.3 percent of economically active

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 3.3: Percentage distribution of economically Table 3.4: Labour force participation rates by age
active population by gender and district - 2023 groups, gender and sector - 2023

Economically active population Labour force participation rate

Age (%)
District (%)
group/sector
Total Male Female Total Male Female
Total 100.0 65.5 34.5 Total 48.6 68.6 31.3
Colombo 100.0 64.2 35.8 15 - 19 7.4 10.9 3.9
Gampaha 100.0 67.0 33.0 20 - 24 44.5 57.5 32.3
Kalutara 100.0 63.9 36.1 25 - 29 66.4 88.1 46.8
Kandy 100.0 63.1 36.9 30 - 39 66.4 95.0 43.0
Matale 100.0 63.4 36.6 40 + 50.0 72.8 31.0
Nuwara Eliya 100.0 60.1 39.9 Urban 46.0 65.6 28.9
Galle 100.0 64.0 36.0 15 - 19 6.4 9.0 3.5
Matara 100.0 69.5 30.5 20 - 24 42.8 51.9 33.0
Hambantota 100.0 65.8 34.2 25 - 29 68.1 87.0 49.8
Jaffna 100.0 71.9 28.1 30 - 39 68.0 96.2 44.4
Mannar 100.0 70.1 29.9
40 + 44.8 68.3 25.9
Vavuniya 100.0 62.7 37.3
Rural 48.9 69.2 31.4
Mullaitivu 100.0 70.5 29.5
15 - 19 7.4 10.9 3.9
Kilinochchi 100.0 72.2 27.8
20 - 24 44.6 58.3 31.8
Batticaloa 100.0 71.3 28.7
25 - 29 65.6 88.1 45.7
Ampara 100.0 77.9 22.1
30 - 39 65.9 94.8 42.2
Trincomalee 100.0 74.8 25.2
40 + 50.8 73.8 31.6
Kurunegala 100.0 62.9 37.1
Estate 53.2 69.6 39.0
Puttalam 100.0 66.9 33.1
15 - 19 11.0 17.5 5.4
Anuradhapura 100.0 64.5 35.5
20 - 24 51.6 69.2 37.6
Polonnaruwa 100.0 73.3 26.7
25 - 29 72.8 92.6 54.2
Badulla 100.0 61.1 38.9
30 - 39 70.2 93.9 50.5
Monaragala 100.0 68.2 31.8
40 + 55.7 71.8 41.5
Rathnapura 100.0 65.2 34.8
Labour force participation rate by standardized
Kegalle 100.0 60.3 39.7 age groups
Total Male Female

As shown in Table 3.3 percentage of economically Total (15 & over) 48.6 68.6 31.3

active female population is high in agriculture 15 - 24 24.0 31.3 16.9

predominant districts. For example, Nuwara Eliya 25 - 34 66.5 91.3 44.9
(38.8%), Badulla (37.3%) and Anuradhapura 35 - 54 67.2 94.0 44.3
(33.4%). The lowest percentage (15.7%) of 55 - 64 52.9 76.6 31.9
economically active female population is reported 65 + 21.0 34.8 10.8
from Ampara district. 15 – 64 54.4 75.0 36.0
25 – 54 67.0 93.2 44.5
3.3 Labour Force Participation Rate These figures are to be treated with caution as the
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
(LFPR)

This is defined as the percentage of the currently As shown in Table 3.4 labour force participation
“economically active population” or the “labour rate (LFPR) for Sri Lanka is 48.6 percent.
force” to the total working age population. Corresponding figures for males and females are
Following Table 3.4 shows the distribution of 68.6 and 31.3 percent respectively.
labour force participation rate by age groups,
gender and by sectors.
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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Comparing the LFPR among age groups it is seen Labour force participation rate by district is given
that the LFPR increases up to the age group of 30- in Table 3.5. The highest LFPR (53.5%) is reported
39 years and decreases thereafter. The highest from Vavuniya district. The highest female LFPR is
LFPR (66.4) is reported from the age group 25-39 reported from Nuwara Eliya district (38.8%), while
years. the lowest female LFPR is reported from Ampara
district (15.7%).
ILO recommended standardized age groups are
also shown in Table 3.4. These values provide Figure 3.3:
more information for international comparison and Labour Force participation rate by gender and
provide labour market behavior of different age level of education – 2023
categories of the population. In 2023 labour force
participation rate of the prime working age (age Degree & above 80.6 81.8
25-54 years) is 67.0 percent. This rate for males is
93.2% and for females it is 44.5%. G.C.E.(A/L) 41.2 71.3

As shown in Table 3.4 gender, age group and G.C.E.(O/L) 25.5 61.2
Sector level LFPR depict that Estate sector female
Grade 6 - 10 27.2 71.3
labour force participation rate are comparatively
higher than that of Urban and Rural sectors. The
Grade 5 and below 22.9 64.0
highest value is reported for the age group 25-29
years, which was reported as 54.2 percent, much 100 0 100
higher compared to rates in Urban (49.8%) & Rural Female Male
(45.7%).
As can be seen in Figure 3.3 clear differences can
be observed in LFPR by sex. However when the
Table 3.5: Labour force participation rates by gender
and district - 2023
level of education is considered, the difference is
minimum for the degree and above level of
Gender education.
District Total
Male Female
Total 48.6 68.6 31.3 Figure 3.4:
Colombo 49.3 67.4 33.3 Labour Force participation rate by gender and age
Gampaha 47.0 66.7 29.3 group - 2023
Kalutara 49.4 67.0 33.8
Kandy 48.9 68.3 32.8 100
L.F. participation rate (%)

Matale 48.7 68.8 32.3

Nuwara Eliya 52.7 69.1 38.8 75
Galle 49.4 67.6 33.3
Matara 42.9 64.9 24.2 50
Hambantota 50.2 71.4 31.9
Jaffna 40.4 65.0 20.6 25
Mannar 52.5 74.9 30.9
Vavuniya 53.5 74.3 36.4 0
Mullaitivu 45.7 68.5 25.5 15 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 29 30 - 34 35 - 39 40+
Kilinochchi 42.7 67.5 21.8 Age (years)
Batticaloa 41.8 67.4 21.5
Total Male Female
Ampara 37.0 60.3 15.7
Trincomalee 41.6 65.2 20.1 As shown in Table 3.5, the Female LFPR is high in
Kurunegala 51.4 70.5 35.2 Agriculture predominant districts. Also it is clear
Puttalam 53.2 76.9 32.8
that male LFPR is higher than that of female in all
Anuradhapura 51.4 73.2 33.4
Polonnaruwa 46.0 71.1 23.4 districts. Some district in Northern and Eastern
Badulla 51.7 68.5 37.3 provinces show comparatively lower LFPR rates
Monaragala 53.2 78.3 31.5 due to lower female labour force participation.
Rathnapura 53.3 72.7 35.6 This distribution is clearly shown in Map-2.
Kegalle 48.3 63.9 35.2

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Map-2 Labour force participation rate by district Economically inactive rate for the country is the
– 2023
proportion of economically inactive population to
the total working age population.
Table 3.6
Table 3.6: Economically inactive population by
gender and sector - 2023

Total Male Female

Sector
No. % No. % No. %
Total 8,898,161 100.0 2,521,164 28.3 6,376,997 71.7

Urban 1,611,727 100.0 476,126 29.5 1,135,602 70.5

Rural 6,960,457 100.0 1,946,764 28.0 5,013,693 72.0

Estate 325,977 100.0 98,275 30.1 227,702 69.9

Table 3.6 & Figure 3.6 show that, the number of

inactive female is higher than that of male in
general and in all the sectors.

Figure 3.6:
Economically inactive population by gender –
2023

Figure 3.5:
Annual labour force participation rates 2017 –
2023
Male,
28.3%

80 Female,
L.F. participation rate (%)

71.7%

60

Male Female
40

Table 3.7: Economically inactive population by level

20
of education - 2023

0 Gender
Level of education Total
2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Male Female
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
Both sexes Male Female Grade 5 and below 16.7 15.4 17.2
Grade 6 - 10 42.4 41.9 42.6
G.C.E.(O/L) 24.2 26.9 23.1
3.4 Economically inactive population G.C.E.(A/L) & above 16.7 15.9 17.1
The persons who are not economically active
during the reference period and those who are Table 3.7 shows the percentage distribution of
mainly engaged in studies, household duties, economically inactive population by level of
retired or old, disabled persons etc. are defined as education. The highest percentage of
‘Economically Inactive Population’. The survey economically inactive population is reported from
results reveal that, 51.4 percent of (8.9 million) the group with level of education grade 6 – 10 for
working age population are in the economically both sexes, while the lowest reported from the
inactive group, comprising with 28.3 percent of groups grade 5 and below and G.C.E. (A/L) &
males and 71.7 percent of females. above.
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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 3.8: Economically inactive population by age 3.5 Characteristics of the “economically
group and gender - 2023 inactive” population
Gender Table 3.9: Reasons for being economically inactive
Age group Total by gender - 2023
Male Female
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 Gender
15 - 19 18.9 32.3 13.6 Reason Total
Male Female
20 - 24 9.1 12.0 8.0
25 - 29 4.4 2.6 5.1 All Economically inactive 100.0 100.0 100.0
30 - 34 4.5 1.2 5.8 Engaged in studies 23.6 39.6 17.2
35 - 39 5.0 1.1 6.6 Engaged in housework 42.4 5.0 57.2
40 - 44 5.5 1.3 7.2 Retired/Old age 21.1 32.2 16.7
45 - 49 5.1 1.6 6.5 Physically
50 - 54 6.0 2.5 7.3 9.9 17.5 6.8
illness/Disabled
55 - 59 6.5 4.1 7.4 Other 3.0 5.7 2.0
60 - 64 8.2 7.9 8.3
65+ 26.7 33.3 24.1
The main reason reported for the majority among
female (57.2%) to be economically inactive is that
Table 3.8 shows the distribution of economically
their involvement in housework activities.
inactive population by age group and gender.
However, that percentage is only 5.0 percent for
This shows that economically inactive males as
male. The highest reported reason for inactivity
well as females are highly concentrated in young
among male, (39.6%) is “engaged in studies”.
(15 – 19 years) and older (65+ years) age groups.
Figure 3.8 clearly shows this distribution.
Percentages of inactive males are lower in middle
age groups, from 30 – 49, however this situation is Table 3.10: Percentage distribution of inactive
different for female. population by stated reason, age group and gender
- 2023

Figure 3.7: Age group

Reason for
Economically active and inactive population by inactive 25 - 35 - 55 &
15 - 24
age group - 2023 34 54 over
Male
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
100 Engaged in
86.5 32.4 0.6 ..
studies
80
Engaged in
Percentage (%)

5.1 17.3 15.7 2.3

60 housework
Retired/Old age .. .. 12.2 69.2
40 Physically
2.1 21.3 53.5 27.1
20 illness/Disabled
Other 6.3 28.9 18.0 1.4
0 Female
15 - 19
20 - 24
25 - 29
30 - 34
35 - 39
40 - 44
45 - 49
50 - 54
55 - 59
60 - 64
65 - 69
70 - 74
75 - 79
80+

Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Engaged in
76.6 6.6 0.1 ..
studies
Age group (years) Engaged in
18.8 85.6 92.1 46.0
Economically active Economically inactive housework
Retired/Old age .. .. 1.0 41.3
Physically
Figure 3.7 shows the distribution of the 1.0 2.9 5.1 12.3
illness/Disabled
percentage of economically active and inactive other 3.5 4.9 1.8 0.5
population by age group. .. Not reported.
These figures are to be treated with caution as the
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
The survey results show that the population from
age group 25 to 59 years are more economically Reported reasons for being economically inactive
active. Also the results reveal that persons even at are different for males and females for different
older ages (age 70 and above) some are age groups. Among both male and female
economically active. majority of youths (15 – 24) are inactive due to
“Engage in Studies”.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Figure 3.8: 1
Reasons of being economically inactive - 2023 3.7 Potential labour force

Potential labour force is a new criterion identified

Both male & female in order to capture situations of inadequate
absorption of labour, beyond those captured by
unemployment (ILO, 2013).
12.9%
23.6%
21.1% The draft 19th ICLS resolution introduced a
definition of potential labour force. It is proposed
42.4%
that the definition cover persons who have
Female
indicated some interest in employment,
Male
8.8% distinguishing three mutually exclusive groups:
17.2
23.2 (a) Unavailable jobseekers, referring to persons
16.7 %
% 39.6
% % without employment who are seeking
32.2 57.2
employment but are not available;
% %

5.0% (b) Available potential jobseekers, referring to

persons without employment who are not seeking
Retired/old age - employment but are available; and
Engaged in housework -
(c) Willing potential jobseekers, comprising
Engaged in studies - persons without employment who are neither
Other - seeking nor available for employment but who
want to be employed.

However, for Sri Lanka it is not possible to provide

3.6 Economically inactive rate
information for above three groups a, b, and c
Table 3.11: Distribution of economically inactive rate separately but it is possible to estimate the
by standardized age groups - 2023
number of persons who are in the inactive group
Gender showing some interest in finding a job. This
Selected age
Total
groups criteria considers the inactive persons who
Male Female
declared that they want a job. Within the total
Total (15 & over) 51.4 31.4 68.7
potential labour force there can be persons,
15 - 24 76.0 68.7 83.1
25 - 34 33.5 8.7 55.1  Who put pressure on the labour market (by
35 - 54 32.8 6.0 55.7 actively seeking an employment) but who,
55 - 64 47.1 23.4 68.1 because they are not immediately available, are
excluded from unemployment.
65 + 79.0 65.2 89.2
 Who are not seeking an employment due to
15 – 64 45.6 25.0 64.0 indefinite lay-off or discouragement, and it also
25 – 54 33.0 6.8 55.5 comprises persons facing a variety of obstacles
to seeking employment, including personal and
The economically inactive rate for prime age family-related factors in addition to the socio-
group (25 – 54) is about 33.0 percent and it is 6.8 economic context.
percent for males and 55.5 percent for females.  Who imply that the expression of interest in the
labour market is generally in the form of an
Youth (15 – 24) economically inactive rate is 76.0 expressed desire for employment.
percent and this is 68.7 percent for males and
83.1 percent for females. Economically inactive
rates are always higher for females in all the age 1
ILO. (2013). Report II, ICLS Statistics of work,
groups (Table 3.11), compared to those of males. employment and labour underutilization. Geneva:
international labour office.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 3.12: Potential labour force by year and Table 3.13: Discouraged job seekers by gender -
gender, 2020 - 2023 2023

Discourage job seekers

Year Gender
Gender Percentage
Total Male Female No. Percentage
to inactive
2020
Total 100,846 100.0 1.1
Number 251,688 92,578 159,110
Rate (% to inactive Male 46,260 45.9 1.8
3.0 4.2 2.6
Pop.)
2021 Female 54,586 54.1 0.9
Number 227,858 93,147 134,710
Rate (% to inactive
2.7 4.1 2.1
Pop.) Figure 3.9:
2022 Discouraged Job seekers by gender - 2023
Number 184,998 61,285 123,714
Rate (% to inactive
2.1 2.6 2.0
Pop.)
2023 Female
Number 244,468 93,869 150,599 54.1%
Rate (% to inactive Male
2.7 3.7 2.4 45.9%
Pop.)

The Table 3.12 shows that in 2023 about 0.2

million are in potential labour force. That is 2.7
percent of inactive population, who show some
interest in getting an employment, but are not Male Female
identified as unemployed.

3.8 Discouraged job seekers

The Table 3.13 and Figure 3.9 show that the
Discouraged job seekers are the persons in the
majority among discouraged job seekers are
economically inactive group who are known to be
female when the number of persons are
as inactive because of these reasons;
considered. When the percentage to inactive
population is considered higher male percentage
 Does not believe that he/ she gets a
is reported compared to female percentage.
suitable job
 Unable to find any work
 Does not possess skills or training required
for a job
 Personal difficulties faced while finding a
job

Above reasons are considered to define

discouraged job seekers. In 2023 the estimated
number of discouraged job seekers is 100,846 and
it is about 1.1 percent of inactive population. In
number majority of discouraged job seekers are
females.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

CHAPTER FOUR

Employment data plays an important role as a

viable social indicator of understanding the HIGHLIGHTS
economy of the country. Furthermore, statistics on
employment identify the number of people, who
are employed, the sorts of work they do, their Labour Force

qualifications towards the job and their working Sri Lanka 8,408,331
patterns. Male 5,503,595
Availability of accurate employment statistics is vital
Female 2,904,736
for the policy makers to implement job creation
policies and programmers properly.
Employed Population

Sri Lanka 8,009,916

. Employed
Male 5,307,563
During the reference period, persons, who worked as Female 2,702,354
paid employees, employers, own account workers or
contributing family workers are said to be employed.
This also includes persons with a job but not at work
Employment Rate
during the reference period.
Sri Lanka 95.3

Reference Period: Previous week of the survey week Male 96.4

Female 93.0

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

4.1 Employment by major industry group

Figure 4.1:
Employed population by major industry group,
The survey results reveal that, about 8.0 million
2017 – 2023
persons are being employed during the year 2023.
Out of these employed persons, about 5.3 million
50
(66.1%) are males and 2.7 million (29.1%) are
45
females.
40

Percentage (%)
Table 4.1 and Figure 4.1 show the distribution of 35
employed population from 2017 – 2023. From
30
2019 till 2021 the share of agriculture employment
25
shows an increase, but from 2021 to 2023 there is
a decrease and share of employment in 20
agricultural sector surpasses the share of industry 15

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023
sector employment. While industry sector show
slight decreases from 2017 to 2023, but service
sector show slight increases from 2017 to 2023.
Agriculture Industries Services
Figure 4.1 shows that clearly.

Table 4.1: Employed population by major industry group, 2017 - 2023

Major industry group

Total employed
Year Agriculture Industries Services
No. % No. % No. % No. %
2017 8,208,179 100.0 2,140,185 26.1 2,331,494 28.4 3,736,500 45.5
2018 8,015,166 100.0 2,043,698 25.5 2,239,262 27.9 3,732,206 46.6
2019 8,180,693 100.0 2,071,940 25.3 2,258,421 27.6 3,850,332 47.1
2020 7,999,093 100.0 2,169,679 27.1 2,152,746 26.9 3,676,668 46.0
2021 8,113,507 100.0 2,213,015 27.3 2,109,482 26.0 3,791,011 46.7
2022 8,147,731 100.0 2,158,559 26.5 2,158,199 26.5 3,830,973 47.0
2023 8,009,916 100.0 2,088,344 26.1 2,043,154 25.5 3,878,418 48.4

Figure 4.2:
As shown in Figure 4.2, out of the total employed
Employed population by major industry
group – 2023
population, the highest share is reported from the
‘Services’ sector (48.4%). The estimated share of
‘Agriculture’ sector and ‘Industries’ sector
employments are 26.1 and 25.5 percent
respectively.
Agriculture
26.1%

Services
48.4%

Industries
25.5%

Agriculture Industries Services

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 4.2: Percentage distribution of employed Also for the year 2023, the survey results reveal
population by major industry group for each district that ‘wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor
– 2023 vehicles, motor cycles’ and ‘transport & storage’
Major industry group and ‘public administration & defense compulsory
District Total Agriculture Industries Services social security’ and ‘Education’ are the major
(%) (%) (%) Industry categories in the Service sector.
Total 100.0 26.1 25.5 48.4
Gampaha district (34.8%) shows the highest share
Colombo 100.0 2.0 26.6 71.4
of employment in the industries sector, and
Gampaha 100.0 4.3 34.8 60.9
Kalutara district (33.8%) shows the 2nd highest
Kalutara 100.0 13.8 33.8 52.4
percentage.
Kandy 100.0 20.1 26.3 53.5
Matale 100.0 21.1 24.0 54.9
Figure 4.3:
Nuwara Eliya 100.0 58.1 13.0 28.9
Share of agriculture, industry & service sectors
Galle 100.0 26.1 25.6 48.4 to the total employment by province – 2023
Matara 100.0 33.1 23.6 43.3
Hambantota 100.0 38.5 20.2 41.4
Jaffna 100.0 21.6 19.8 58.6 35.8
Sabaragamuwa 30.8
Mannar 100.0 53.0 12.2 34.8 33.4
Vavuniya 100.0 32.6 24.4 43.0
33.9
Mullaitivu 100.0 45.5 18.6 35.8 Uva 13.4
52.7
Kilinochchi 100.0 33.7 27.0 39.3
Batticaloa 100.0 30.7 23.6 45.7 36.1
North Central 16.2
Ampara 100.0 31.6 22.2 46.2 47.6
Trincomalee 100.0 32.3 21.5 46.1
44.3
Kurunegala 100.0 28.1 28.3 43.6 North Western 28.0
27.7
Puttalam 100.0 26.9 27.4 45.7
Anuradhapura 100.0 48.7 15.6 35.7 46.0
Eastern 22.5
Polonnaruwa 100.0 45.2 17.7 37.1 31.5
Badulla 100.0 52.3 12.6 35.1
48.7
Monaragala 100.0 53.4 14.8 31.8 Northern 20.4
30.9
Rathnapura 100.0 41.6 29.2 29.2
Kegalle 100.0 21.3 33.1 45.6 45.0
Southern 23.5
31.4

46.5
Table 4.2 shows the percentage distribution of Central 21.9
employed population by major industry groups 31.6

for each district. The data shows some significant 63.4

Western 31.3
variations in the share of agriculture employment
5.3
among districts. It distributes from 2.0 percent in
Colombo district to 58.1 percent in Nuwara Eliya 0 15 30 45 60 75
Percentage (%)
district. Further Monaragala (53.4%), Mannar
(53.0%), Badulla (52.3%) and Anuradhapura Services Industries Agriculture

(48.7%) districts are highly concentrated with

agricultural employment. Colombo district shows
Figure 4.3 illustrates the distribution of employed
the highest employment contribution to the
population by Province level and by major
‘Services’ sector (71.4%), followed by Gampaha
industry sectors; agriculture, industry & service.
(60.9%) district.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

4.2 Employment by status of employment Figure 4.4:

Employment status by gender - 2023
Table 4.3: Percentage distribution of employed
population by employment status for each district -
2023
Total 66.3% 33.7%
Self employed
Own Contri Employee 64.7% 35.3%
District Employee account buting
Employer
worker family Employer 88.2% 11.8%
(O.A.W.) worker
Total 59.0 2.6 32.8 5.5 Own account worker 74.3% 25.7%
Colombo 68.9 4.8 23.7 2.7
Contributing family
Gampaha 65.8 4.0 27.5 2.8 25.5% 74.5%
worker
Kalutara 69.9 1.3 25.6 3.2 Male Female
Kandy 60.0 3.6 30.0 6.4
Matale 54.3 0.9 37.8 7.0 When a household member is engaging in a
Nuwara Eliya 65.7 1.5 26.3 6.5
family business or farming and the other
Galle 58.8 3.2 31.6 6.4
members who engage in this activity without any
Matara 62.9 2.2 31.2 3.7
payment are identified as contributing family
Hambantota 48.7 1.9 42.4 7.0
workers. Figure 4.4 clearly shows that this is more
Jaffna 66.2 5.0 26.4 2.5
common among female. About 74.5% of
Mannar 49.2 0.2 46.1 4.4
contributing family workers are female.
Vavunia 57.8 2.6 36.9 2.8
Mullativu 50.6 6.1 37.4 5.9 Table 4.4: Employed population by employment
Kilinochchi 63.0 2.3 32.3 2.3 status and by gender - 2023
Batticaloa 67.5 3.8 27.3 1.5
Gender
Ampara 66.6 1.2 29.0 3.3 Total
Employment
Trincomalee 60.9 0.6 35.3 3.2 Male Female
status
Kurunegala 50.8 1.9 39.0 8.2 No % No % No %
Puttalam 53.6 4.4 35.2 6.9 Total 8,009,916 100.0 5,307,563 100.0 2,702,354 100.0
Anuradhapura 42.0 1.3 46.4 10.3 Employee 4,729,711 59.0 3,058,013 57.6 1,671,698 61.9
Polonnaruwa 44.4 1.1 46.4 8.1 Public 1,168,055 14.6 610,073 11.5 557,982 20.6
Badulla 46.4 0.5 41.8 11.4
Private 3,561,656 44.5 2,447,940 46.1 1,113,716 41.2
Monaragala 37.0 0.9 52.1 10.0
Employer 208,462 2.6 183,890 3.5 24,572 0.9
Rathnapura 55.4 1.5 36.7 6.5
Own account
Kegalle 63.1 1.5 30.1 5.3 2,627,644 32.8 1,952,496 36.8 675,148 25.0
worker
These figures are to be treated with caution as Contributing
444,100 5.5 113,164 2.1 330,935 12.2
the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values family worker
are high.

Table 4.3 shows the percentage distribution of Figure 4.5:

Employed population by employment status -
employed population by employment status at
2023
the district level.
The employed population by status of
5.5% Public Employee
employment has two vital categories; waged and 14.6%

salaried workers (employees) and the self- Private Employee

employed. Self-employed can be further 32.8% Employer
categorized in to three groups employers, own
account workers and contributing family workers. Own account
worker
Status of employment describes the working 44.5% Contributing family
2.6%
behavior and conditions of work. Such as high worker
proportion of self-employed is an indication of
large agriculture sector, while high proportion of
employees is an indication of economic
development.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

The estimated total public sector employment for According to the Figure 4.7, the level of
Sri Lanka in 2023 is about 1.2 million (Table 4.4). education among employed has been increasing
Among the employed female, the percentage of over the previous years. However, still
paid employees, those who are engaged in the considerable part of employment population has
public sector is 20.6 percent, and among grade 5 or below level of education.
employed male this is 11.5 percent. The share of
contributing family workers to the total 4.4 Employment by occupation
employment is 5.5 percent, and it is 12.2 percent
Table 4.5: Employed population by occupation &
for females, which is much higher compared to gender - 2023
that of males (2.1%).
Gender %
Contribution
Figure 4.6: Occupation Total of females to
Employed population by major industry group Male Female the total
and employment status - 2023 employment
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 33.7

100% Managers, Senior

Officials and 4.0 4.8 2.5 21.1
80% Legislators
Percentage (%)

60% Professionals 7.3 4.3 13.4 61.5

Technical &
40%
Associate 8.6 8.0 9.9 38.9
20% Professionals
Clerks and Clerical
0% 3.3 2.2 5.4 55.0
support workers
Agriculture Industries Services
Services and Sales
Major Industry Group 12.3 12.7 11.5 31.7
workers
Employee Employer Skilled Agricultural,
Forestry and 15.1 17.5 10.5 23.5
Own account worker Contributing family worker
Fishery workers
Craft and Related
The Figure 4.6 shows the percentage distribution 13.8 14.5 12.4 30.4
Trades workers
of employment by Industry groups & by
Plant and Machine
employment status. Agriculture sector is different Operators and 9.5 11.3 5.9 21.1
from other two sectors, where higher percentages Assemblers
of own account workers and contributing family Elementary
25.7 24.3 28.3 37.2
occupations
workers can be observed compared to Industry &
Armed Forces
Service sectors. occupations &
0.4 0.5 0.1 5.7
Unidentified
4.3 Employment by level of education occupations
These figures are to be treated with caution as the
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
Figure 4.7:
Employed population by level of education,
Survey covers only the household population,
2017 – 2023
hence the occupations of the institutional
50%
population specially Armed Forces do not
represent fully in these categories.
40%
Percentage (%)

30% Table 4.5 shows the proportion of men and

women employed in different occupational
20%
categories. Table 4.5 also shows the contribution
10% of females to the total employment within each
0% occupational group. Overall female contribution
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 is 33.7 percent. Among the professional’s female
Grade 5 & Below Grade 6-10 contribution is about 61.5 percent. This group
G.C.E. (O/L) G.C.E. (A/L) & above generally consist of teachers, nurses, doctors, etc.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

4.5 Average gross wage/salary & income Table 4.8: Mean & median monthly income by sector
(for own account workers and employers) - 2023
The Labour force survey collects information on
Monthly income (Rs.)
salaries or wages from monthly or daily
Measurement
wage/salary earners (paid employees) and also the
Urban Rural Estate
information on gross monthly income of
All
employers and own account workers.
Mean 90,408 37,384 48,621
Table 4.6: Mean & median monthly gross salary by Median 45,000 25,000 25,000
gender - 2023
Employer
Monthly Daily Mean 304,266 115,939 ..
earners earners Median 100,000 70,000 ..
Measure (wage/salary) (wage/salary)
ment Own Account Worker
(Rs.) (Rs.)
Mean 47,930 32,363 40,749
Total Male Female Total Male Female
Median 40,000 25,000 25,000
Mean 51,327 56,012 45,157 28,436 31,576 17,527
.. Cell count is not enough to provide reliable estimates.
Median 43,000 45,000 40,000 26,000 30,000 16,250
The estimated mean and median values for
monthly wages/salaries and self-reported
The Table 4.6 shows the estimated mean and individual income for employers and own account
median monthly gross wage/salary separately for workers by sector are depicted in Table 4.7, Table
4.7.1, Table 4.8 & Table 4.8.1.
monthly wage/salary earners and daily
wage/salary earners. It can be seen that female
Table 4.8.1: Mean & median monthly income by
values are comparatively lower than those of sector (own account worker & employers), 2021 -
male. 2023

Table 4.7: Mean & median monthly gross salary by Monthly Income(Rs.)
Year Measurement
sector - 2023 Urban Rural Estate
Mean 55,206 31,814 24,035
Monthly Daily
2021
Median 35,000 20,000 20,000
earners (wage/salary) earners (wage/salary)
Measure (Rs.) (Rs.) Mean 59,508 37,171 29,168
ment 2022
Total Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Median 40,000 25,000 20,000
Mean 90,408 37,384 48,621
Mean 51,327 68,016 46,562 28,436 32,992 27,786 2023
Median 45,000 25,000 25,000
Median 43,000 50,000 40,000 26,000 30,000 25,000
Estimated results further reveal existing wage gaps
between sectors and between employment status.
Table 4.7.1: Mean & median monthly gross salary by
sector - 2023 Table 4.9: Mean & median monthly gross salary by
major industry group - 2023
Monthly Daily
earners (wage/salary) earners (wage/salary) Measurement Agriculture Industry Service
(Rs.) (Rs.)
Measure Monthly wage/salary earners (Rs.)
ment Rural Rural
Mean 28,139 45,265 55,193
Urban Urban
Rural Rural
only
Estate
only
Estate Median 25,000 37,000 45,000

Mean 68,016 47,335 30,605 32,992 28,282 24,116 Daily wage/salary earners (Rs.)
Mean 23,953 31,660 29,726
Median 50,000 42,000 25,000 30,000 26,000 23,000
Median 22,500 30,000 28,000

The above are the residential sectors and the

majority of Estate sector employment may work
within the sector compared to other two sectors.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

The Table 4.9 shows mean and median Distribution of the mean values of the gross salary
wages/salaries estimated for major industry of the monthly earners by district reveals some
groups separately for monthly wage/salary interesting features (Figure 4.9). When the
earners and daily wage/salary earners. monthly paid employees are considered,
Colombo district shows the highest mean monthly
Figure 4.8:
salary followed by Gampaha district and third is
Average gross wage / salary by major industry
group - 2023 Anuradhapura district.

54
48
Salary / Wages ('000 Rs)

42
36
30
24
18
12
6
-
Agriculture Industry Services
Major Industry sector
Monthly Earners Daily earners

As given in figure 4.8 average wage/salary

distribution of monthly earners and the daily
earners by major industry groups, the average
monthly salary of the monthly earners in services
sector, is much higher than the other two sectors,
however this difference cannot be observed when
the daily earners are considered.

Figure 4.9:
Mean & median monthly salary of paid employees - district level – 2023

75
70
65
60
Monthly Salary ('000 Rs)

55
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
-
Mannar
Anuradhapura

Matale

Trincomalee
Hambantota
Gampaha

Jaffna

Moneragala

Puttalam
Kalutara

Batticaloa

Matara

Kurunegala

Ampara

Nuwara Eliya

Ratnapura
Colombo

Vavunia
Galle

Mullativu
Kegalle
Kandy

Badulla

Kilinochchci
Polonnaruwa

Mean Median

- 21 -
Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

4.6 Employment to Population Ratio Overall employment to population ratio for Sri
Lanka is 46.3 percent and it is 64.6 percent for the
The employment-to-population ratio is defined as prime age (25 – 54 years) group. Youth (15 – 24
the proportion employed to the country’s years) employment to population ratio is about
working-age population. It provides the 18.5 percent.
information on the ability of an economy to create
employment. On the other hand employment-to- The survey results further shows that one out of
population ratio helps to comprehend and every two persons in working age population is
compare labour markets in different countries. contributing to the production of goods and
services and when male & female are considered
separately male rates are two times higher than
Table 4.10: Employment to population ratio by female.
sector and gender - 2023

Table 4.12: Employment to population ratio, 2017 -

Gender
2023
Sector
Total Male Female
Employment to population ratio
Total 46.3 66.1 29.1 Year
Total Male Female
Urban 43.9 63.6 26.8
2017 51.8 72.4 34.3
Rural 46.6 66.7 29.2
2018 49.5 70.8 31.2
Estate 50.6 66.2 37.1
2019 49.8 70.5 31.9
Table 4.10 reveals that the employment-to-
2020 47.8 69.0 29.3
population ratio for the country is 46.3 percent in
2023. This value in the Estate sector is higher 2021 47.4 68.4 29.3
compared to the values of other two sectors. Also 2022 47.5 67.9 30.0
the Estate sector shows the highest ratio for
2023 46.3 66.1 29.1
female while the lowest is reported from Urban
sector.

Table 4.11: Employment to population ratio by

standardized age group & gender - 2023

Gender
Age group
Total Male Female

15 and over 46.3 66.1 29.1

Youth (15 – 24) 18.5 25.2 11.9

Adult (25 & over) 52.8 76.5 32.8

Prime age(25 – 54) 64.6 91.0 41.9

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

CHAPTER FIVE

The unemployment rate is one of the most widely

cited and closely monitored economic indicators.
HIGHLIGHTS
Unemployment is a key measure of economic health.
It is a major factor in determining how healthy an
economy is; if the economy maximized efficiency, Labour Force
everyone would be employed at some wage. An Sri Lanka 8,408,331
individual unemployed is both unproductive and a
Male 5,503,595
drain on society’s resources. Unemployment is a
Female 2,904,736
powerful statistic that shapes government policies
and personal decisions2. Generally, lower
unemployment rates share a good economic health Unemployed Population
of a country. Sri Lanka 398,415
However, the unemployment rates of many
Male 196,032
developing countries are lower than those of
Female 202,382
industrialized countries. Hence, some studies explain
the unemployment measure as only one aspect of the
employment problem of a given country that of total Unemployment Rate
lack of work3. Sri Lanka 4.7

Male 3.6
Unemployed
Female 7.0
Persons available and/or looking for work, and who
did not work and taken steps to find a job during last
four weeks and ready to accept a job given a work
opportunity within next two weeks are defined as
unemployed.

2
Classical and Keynesian economic explanations for unemployment, Michael Griffiths (2007)
3
www.ilo,org/public/english/region/afpro/mdttharare/downlord
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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

5.1 Unemployment rate by sector and Table 5.2: Unemployment rates, 2016 - 2023
gender
Gender
Year Total
The number of unemployed persons is estimated Male Female
as 398,415 during the year 2023. Out of this total, 2016 4.4 2.9 7.0
49.2 percent are males and 50.8 percent are 2017 4.2 2.9 6.5
females. 2018 4.4 3.0 7.1

Table 5.1: Unemployed number and unemployment 2019 4.8 3.3 7.4
rate by gender and sector - 2023 2020 5.5 4.0 8.5
2021 5.1 3.7 7.9
Sector
Gender Unemployed Total 2022 4.7 3.7 6.5
Urban Rural Estate
2023 4.7 3.6 7.0
Number 398,415 62,566 317,554 18,295
Total
Rate 4.7 4.6 4.8 4.9
All over the period for 2016 to 2023 female
Number 196,032 28,244 156,522 11,266 unemployment remains higher than that of males.
Male
Rate 3.6 3.1 3.6 5.0
Table 5.3: Unemployment rate by district - 2023
Number 202,382 34,322 161,031 7,029
Female
Rate 7.0 7.4 7.0 4.8 Un-emp rate Un-emp rate
These figures are to be treated with caution as the District District
(%) (%)
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
Total 4.7 Mullaitivu 2.2
Colombo 3.7 Kilinochchi 3.9
Figure 5.1: Gampaha 4.0 Batticaloa 6.1
Unemployment rate by gender & sector -
Kalutara 6.3 Ampara 3.1
2023
Kandy 7.4 Trincomalee 2.5
Matale 3.5 Kurunegala 3.4
9
8 7.4 Nuwara Eliya 2.9 Puttalam 3.5
Unemployment rate (%)

6.9 7.0
7 Galle 6.2 Anuradhapura 5.2
6 4.8 4.7 Matara 6.1 Polonnaruwa 3.9
5 4.6
3.7 3.6 Hambantota 7.3 Badulla 8.0
4 3.1
3 Jaffna 4.0 Monaragala 4.0
2 Mannar 2.1 Rathnapura 3.9
1
Vavuniya 3.0 Kegalle 5.2
0
Urban Rural Total
These figures are to be treated with caution as the
Sector corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
Male Female Total

When consider the district level distribution the

highest unemployment rate is recorded from
According to the Table 5.1 and Figure 5.1,
Badulla district (8.0%), followed by Kandy district
unemployment rate reported for the year 2023 is
(7.4%).
4.7 at national level and, the rates for the Urban,
Rural and Estate sectors are 4.6, 4.8 and 4.9
percent respectively. It could also be seen that, at
the national level, the unemployment rate for
females (7.0%) is much higher than that of the
male unemployment rate (3.6%).

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 5.4: Unemployment rate by age group and As given in Table 5.5, the highest unemployment
gender - 2023 rate is reported from educated group G.C.E.(A/L)
Gender and above which is reported as 8.0 percent. It is
Age group
Total 5.8 percent and 10.2 percent for male and female
(Years) Male Female
respectively. As reported in previous years of
Total 4.7 3.6 7.0
survey the problem of unemployment is more
15 - 24 23.0 19.4 29.5
acute in the case of educated females than
25 - 29 13.0 8.7 20.4
educated males.
30 - 39 3.3 2.2 5.4
Over 40 1.2 0.9 1.7 Table 5.5a: Unemployment of the Graduates – 2023
(Age 20 & above)

Figure 5.2:
Type of the degree Total Percentage
Unemployment rate by age group and gender
- 2023 Total no. of unemployed
41,070 100.0
graduates
Art degree 17,492 42.6
30
Other degrees 23,578 57.4
Unemployment Rate (%)

25

20 In 2023, the estimated unemployment among the

15 persons aged 20 years and above and who are
10 graduates is given in the Table 5.5a. Among the
5
unemployed graduates, about 42.6 percent are
Art degree holders while the other 57.4 percent
0
Total Over 40 30 - 39 25 - 29 15 - 24 consist with other degree holders.
Age Group (Years)

Total Male Female 5.2 Annual unemployment rates

The Table 5.4 and Figure 5.2 depict that for all
Figure 5.3:
age groups, female unemployment rates are Unemployment rate by gender, 2016 – 2023
higher than those of male. Overall youth (age 15-
24) unemployment rate is 23.0 percent. For both
male and female youth reported the highest 9
unemployment rate. The majority among 8
Unemployment Rate (%)

7
unemployed are the new entrants to job market or
6
new job seekers, who are in age group 15 – 24 5
years. The unemployment rate declines with the 4
age. However it should be considered that among 3
the youth (15 - 24) only a 24.0 percent enter to the 2
1
labour force. Among them about 23.0 percent is
0
unemployed.
2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

Table 5.5: Unemployment rate by level of education Year

- 2023
Total Male Female
Gender
Level of Education Total
Male Female Unemployment rates from 2016 show that the rate
Total 4.7 3.6 7.0 is stagnant between 4 to 6 percent. However, it is
Grade 5 & Below 0.7 0.6 0.8 very important to notice that, the changes are not
Grade 6-10 3.4 2.9 4.6 statistically significant between some consecutive
G.C.E. (O/L) 6.0 4.6 8.9 years, when sampling error4 is considered.
G.C.E. (A/L) & above 8.0 5.8 10.2
These figures are to be treated with caution as the 4
Please see the explanatory notes as in the appendix
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high. for more detail.
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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Figure 5.4: Figure 5.6:

Unemployment rates, 2016 - 2022 Share of contributing family workers to the
employment for each province - 2023
6
Unemployment rate (%)

5 5.5
4 4.8 5.1 4.7
4.4 4.7
4.2 4.4
3 Sri Lanka 5.5

2 Uva 10.9

1 North Central 9.7

0
North Western 7.8
2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023
Central 6.5
Year
Sabaragamuwa 6.0
5.3 Unemployment rate by province
Southern 5.8

The following figure shows the unemployment Northern 3.1

situation in year 2022 by provinces. The highest
Western 2.8
unemployment rate is reported from the Southern
province (5.8%) followed by Central province Eastern 2.6
(5.7%). The lowest unemployment rate is reported
from the North Central province and North Percentage (%)
Western province (3.7%).

Figure 5.5: Considering the Figure 5.5, Figure 5.6 and Table
Unemployment rate by province - 2023 5.6 North Central province which is predominantly
agricultural farming area show lower
Margin of the National Unemployment Rate unemployment rate and high contribution of own
account workers and contributing family workers.
Sri Lanka 4.7
In contrast, Eastern, Western and Northern
provinces show lower percentages of contributing
Uva 6.6 family workers.

Southern 6.5

Central 5.4

North Central 4.8

Sabaragamuwa 4.4

Western 4.3

Eastern 4.0

North Western 3.4

Northern 3.4

Unemployment rate (%)

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 5.6: Unemployment rate and percentage distribution of employment status for each province - 2023

Employment status
Province Unemployment Own
Paid Contributing
rate Total Employer Account
employee Family Worker
Worker
Total 4.7 100.0 59.0 2.6 32.8 5.5
Western 4.3 100.0 67.9 3.7 25.5 2.8
Central 5.4 100.0 60.7 2.5 30.3 6.5
Southern 6.5 100.0 57.4 2.5 34.3 5.8
Northern 3.4 100.0 60.8 3.8 32.4 3.1
Eastern 4.0 100.0 65.4 1.9 30.1 2.6
North Western 3.4 100.0 51.8 2.7 37.7 7.8
North Central 4.8 100.0 42.7 1.2 46.4 9.7
Uva 6.6 100.0 43.0 0.6 45.5 10.9
Sabaragamuwa 4.4 100.0 58.5 1.5 34.0 6.0
These figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.

The Unemployment rate and participation in Agricultural activities may have some relationship, since
when there are Agricultural activities, persons join the labour force as contributing family workers
specially the females.

5.4 Youth unemployment in Sri Lanka Youth unemployment rate by some demographic
characteristics such as province, gender, level of
Generally developing countries face major education are discussed below.
challenges regarding the quality of available work
for youths (age between 15 – 24 years). Table 5.7: Youth unemployment rate by Province,
2019 - 2023
Youth unemployment is the percentage of the
unemployed population in the age group 15 – 24 Year
Province
years to the currently “economically active 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
population” or “labour force” in the age group of Total 21.5 26.5 26.5 22.7 23.0
15 – 24 years. The youth unemployment rate is Western 15.0 23.5 21.7 20.3 18.7
23.0 percent in 2023. Central 28.2 36.4 30.4 31.4 31.7
Southern 31.5 35.8 33.4 27.8 33.3
Northern 17.4 20.6 16.9 15.5 14.9
Figure 5.7: Eastern 21.3 19.1 21.8 13.9 16.8
Youth unemployment rate, 2019 - 2023 North Western 19.9 18.7 21.5 19.4 16.7
North Central 19.4 23.6 27.8 24.5 27.8
Uva 23.8 32.6 38.3 24.3 34.4
28
Sabaragamuwa 25.2 30.8 35.7 26.3 22.0
Youth unemployment rate

26.5 26.5
26
Table 5.7 shows that the Uva province is having
24
22.7 23.0 the highest youth unemployment rate in year
22 2023. It is about 34.4 percent and followed by
21.5 Southern province (33.3%) in 2023.
20

18

16
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Year

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Figure 5.8: Eighth edition Geneva, International Labour

Youth unemployment rate by gender, 2019 - 2023 Office, 2014).

Table 5.9: Ratio of the youth unemployment rate to

40 36.2 the adult unemployment rate by gender, 2019 –
Youth unemployment rate

35.1
35 2023
28.7 29.5
30 26.7
22.1 Year
25 21.3 20.4 Gender
17.6 19.4 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
20
Total 7.9 9.1 9.6 8.3 8.1
15
Male 11.0 12.2 12.3 10.4 10.0
10
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Female 5.9 6.9 7.6 6.3 6.5

Year
Table 5.9 shows that ratio of the youth
Male Female
unemployment rate to the adult unemployment
from 2019 to 2023. This ratio is always lower for
Figure 5.8 depicts that female youth females than males. The ratio is always above one,
unemployment rate is always higher than males.
hence this shows that youth unemployment is
significantly higher than adult unemployment.
Table 5.8: Youth unemployment rate by level of
education, 2019 - 2023
5.6 Youth unemployment as a proportion
Level of Year of total unemployment
Education 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 If, in addition to a high youth unemployment rate,
Total 21.5 26.5 26.5 22.7 23.0 the proportion of youth unemployment in total
Grade 5 &
12.8 16.7 10.4 16.6 7.6 unemployment is high, this would also indicate an
Below
Grade 6-10
unequal distribution of the problem of
15.7 20.7 17.8 17.5 16.5
G.C.E. (O/L) 22.5 25.9 26.9 24.6 25.1 unemployment. In this case, employment policies
G.C.E. (A/L) might usefully be directed towards easing the
30.7 36.6 39.3 28.6 29.8
& above entry of young people into the world of work. (ILO
These figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding
Key Indicators of the Labour Market, Eighth
CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
edition Geneva, International Labour Office, 2014)
Youth unemployment rate is higher among the
Figure 5.9:
educated group with G.C.E.(A/L) & above.
Youth unemployment as a proportion of total
unemployment by province - 2023
The new youth cohorts who are entering to labour
force after completing their higher education
show higher unemployment rates. Sri Lanka 45.4

Central 52.6
5.5 Ratio of the youth unemployment rate
to the adult unemployment rate Northern 52.0
The former complements the ratio of youth-to- North Central 49.3
adult unemployment rate is reflecting to what
North Western 46.8
degree the unemployment problem is a youth-
specific problem as opposed to a general Western 44.9
problem. In a country where the youth Uva 43.9
unemployment rate is high and the ratio of the
Southern 42.0
youth unemployment rate to the adult
Sabaragamu… 41.6
unemployment rate is close to one, it may be
concluded that the problem of unemployment is Eastern 37.2
not specific to youth, but is country-wide. 0 20 40 60
However, unemployment rates of youth are
Proportion (%)
typically higher than those of adults, reflected by
youth-to-adult unemployment rates that exceed
one. (ILO Key Indicators of the Labour Market,
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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Figure 5.9 shows Youth unemployment as a Table 5.11: Youth unemployment as a proportion of
proportion of total unemployment by Province total youth population by gender and level of
education - 2023
and for the country. This rate for Sri Lanka is 45.4
percent, which shows that half of unemployment Gender
Level of Education Total
population of the country is youth. Also these Male Female
reveal that Central, Northern and North Central Total 5.5 6.1 5.0
Grade 5 & Below 1.5 2.7 ..
provinces have higher proportion than the national
Grade 6-10 3.7 5.2 2.1
proportion. Which are 52.6, 52.0 and 49.3 percent
G.C.E. (O/L) 4.7 5.2 4.2
respectively.
G.C.E. (A/L) & above 10.6 10.3 10.8
Table 5.10: Youth unemployment as a proportion of These figures are to be treated with caution as the
total unemployment by gender and level of corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
education - 2023 .. Youth unemployment not reported.

Proportion of Youth Table 5.11 depicts that youth unemployment to

Measurement
unemployment the total youth population for Sri Lanka and it is
Gender 5.5 for the year 2023. This proportion is 6.1 and
Male 50.4 5.0 for males and females respectively. The most
Female 40.6 considerable thing is that the highest proportion
Level of Education of youth unemployment to youth population, 10.6
Grade 5 & Below 6.6 percent is shown among educated youth group
Grade 6-10 42.3 (G.C.E. (A/L) & above group) and it is 10.3 percent
G.C.E. (O/L) 57.3 and 10.8 percent for male and female respectively.
G.C.E. (A/L) & above 42.9
These figures are to be treated with caution as the 5.8 The youth not in employment,
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are education or training (NEET) group
high.
The NEET rate is useful as it;
According to 2023 findings, males shows a higher • Considers all young people who are not
proportion of youth unemployment as a employed and inactive in the age group (15 – 24
proportion to the total unemployment compared years)
to that of female. • Gives an indication of youth potential and
potential youth labour-market problems in relation
Further the highest proportion of youth to the whole youth population
unemployment is reported from G.C.E. (O/L) • Helps in the wider understanding of the youth
group in level of education and it is 57.3 percent. labour market (in combination with the youth
Also G.C.E. (A/L) & above and Grade 6-10 groups unemployment rate, employment rate, and labour
shows 42.9 percent and 42.3 percent force participation rate).
respectively. (Statistics New Zealand (2011). Introducing the
youth not in employment, education, or training
5.7 Youth unemployment as a proportion
indicator. Wellington: Statistics New Zealand)
of total youth population
The proportion of youth unemployed in the youth Although NEET data has its benefits, it should still
population places the youth unemployment be treated carefully. NEET rates capture the non-
challenge into perspective by showing what share utilised labour potential of the population and can
of the youth population, unemployment actually also be used to identify individuals who may be at
touches. Youth who are looking for work might risk of future difficulties. However, it does not
have great difficulty finding it but when this group measure the characteristics behind the NEET
only represents less than 5 percent of the total group, such as diverse experiences, problems and
youth population then policy-makers may choose difficulties, needs, or distinct choices made. NEET
to address it with less urgency. (ILO Key statistics simply measure what people are not
Indicators of the Labour Market, Eighth edition doing, not what they are doing. A measure of
Geneva, International Labour Office, 2014). NEET provides another piece of the youth labour-
market picture.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

The youth NEET rate is calculated as follows. Total youth population is about 3.3 million. The
Figure 5.10 shows the distribution of total youth
(Number of unemployed youth + number of youth
(15 – 24) population by different economic
not in the labour force – Number of unemployed
conditions in 2023.
youth and youth not in the labour force who are in
education or training) / (Total number of
youth)*100 Figure 5.10:
Distribution of youth population by different
Table 5.12: Youth not in employment, education or economic conditions - 2023
training (NEET) by gender, 2019 - 2023

Year
Gender Youths in age 15-24
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Employed
Total 647,863 685,424 625,985 585,661 596,844 youth,
Male 202,043 240,425 227,606 213,432 223,410 606,361 ,
18.5%
Female 445,820 444,998 398,379 372,229 373,434
Unemployed
Table 5.12 depicts that female youth not in NEET,
152,309 ,
employment, education or training is higher than 4.6%
male youth in all years 2019 to 2023. Total NEET
group is fluctuating over the period 2019 to 2023. Inactive Unemployed
Non-NEET, Non-NEET,
2,047,864 , 28,717 ,
Table 5.13: NEET rate (NEET group as a percentage 62.4% 0.9%
to total youth) by gender 2019 - 2023
Inactive
12 NEET,
444,535 ,
Year
Gender 13.6%
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Total 21.2 21.5 19.4 18.1 18.2 Employed youth Unemployed NEET
Male 13.3 15.3 14.4 13.5 13.7
Unemployed Non-NEET Inactive NEET
Female 29.0 27.5 24.2 22.3 22.6
Inactive Non-NEET
Table 5.13 shows that approximately one out of
every five youths belong to the NEET group in
2023. This rate is close to one out of four for
female youth in 2023. NEET rate is significantly
higher for female compared to male.

Table 5.14: NEET rate (NEET group as a percentage

to total youth) by level of education and gender –
2023

Gender
Level of Education Total
Male Female
Total 18.2 13.7 22.6
Grade 5 & Below 71.4 67.3 76.6
Grade 6-10 18.5 13.8 24.0
G.C.E. (O/L) 15.0 10.9 19.0
G.C.E. (A/L) & above 20.4 15.8 23.6
According to the Table 5.14, female NEET rate is
higher than that of male for all education groups.
Less educated youth are having the highest NEET
rate. Among them female youth with Grade 5 and
below level of education are having the highest
NEET rate, 76.6 percent. The lowest NEET rate is
reported for the group with G.C.E. (O/L) level of
education and it is true for both male and female.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Map (3): Unemployment rate by district – Map (4): Percentage distribution of

2023 employed population in agriculture
sector by districts – 2023

Map (5): Percentage distribution of Map (6): Percentage distribution of

employed population in industry sector by employed population in service sector by
districts – 2023 districts – 2023

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

CHAPTER SIX

The importance of the concept of Under-employment has

long been recognized. At the international level, the concept
HIGHLIGHTS
was accepted at the Sixth International Conference of Labour
Statisticians ICLS (1948). According to the 1966 ICLS
resolution, “underemployment” exists when a person’s Underemployment
employment is inadequate, in relation to specified norms or Rate (%)
alternative employment, account being taken of his Sri Lanka 3.7
occupational skill (training and working experience).

Under-employment can be distinguished in to two principal

By Gender
forms known as visible and invisible.
Male 3.4

Visible under-employment Female 4.4

This reflects an insufficiency in the volume of employment.

Also this is called time-related underemployment. By Economic Sector

Invisible under-employment Agriculture 5.5

Characterized by low income, underutilization of skill, low Industry 4.1

productivity and other factors Services 2.7

The 1982 ICLS resolution recognized, however, that “for operational

reasons the statistical measurement of underemployment may be
limited to visible underemployment”. It refined the definition and
introduced an approach to combine the measurement of visible
underemployment with that of unemployment. Underemployment
has particular relevance in developing countries, notably in
connection with agriculture. It has been observed that measurement
of underemployment has mostly been recommended for describing
the employment situation in developing countries. Further time-
related underemployment reflects the underutilization of the
productive capacity of the labour force of the country.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

6.1 Criteria for classification of 6.2 Distribution of underemployment

underemployment rate
In order to classify an employed persons as visibly Table 6.1: Underemployment rate by major industry
underemployed or time-related underemployed. group - 2023

 If the person has worked less than the

Underemployment
normal duration in his/her main activity and Major industry group
rate (%)
engaged in a secondary activity
Total 3.7
Until 2012, only the time spent on main activity Agriculture 5.5
was considered to decide cutoff time limit. Industry 4.1
However, from 2013 onward this has been
Services 2.7
changed and time spent on both main and
secondary activities were considered to decide
cutoff time limit. Figure 6.1:
Underemployment rate by major industry group
In Sri Lanka scenario, 35 hours per week is taken - 2023
as the cut-off point applicable to all workers,
except government teachers, as in practice,
though teachers do have a normal duration of Underemployment

work which is below the general cut-off point, they

5.5
Rate (%)

should be on a fulltime schedule according to the

3.7 4.1
nature of their job.
2.7

Therefore, if the person has worked less than the

cut-off duration in his/her main & secondary Total Agriculture Industry Services
activities (as described above), then the person is
further questioned to ascertain whether he/she is Economic sector

prepared and available for further work if

provided. Such available persons are considered As given in Figure 6.1 underemployment rates by
as visibly under employed. economic sector reveals a considerable difference
among sectors. Agriculture sector reports the
 If the person has worked more than the highest rate (5.5%) and service sector reports the
normal duration in his/her main &
lowest rate (2.7%). The results reveal that when
secondary activities
the total population is considered 3.7 percent of
employed population is under-utilized with
If the person has worked even more than 35 hours
respect to time and this is more prevalent in
usually, but he has worked less than 35 hours
Agriculture sector.
actually in the reference period, only due to the
off season or bad weather, such persons were also Table 6.2: Underemployment rate by gender 2019 -
further questioned to check their 2023
underemployment situation, considering them as Gender
a special category. Year Total
Male Female
2019 2.7 2.3 3.5
Applying above mentioned criteria, an attempt
2020 2.6 2.3 3.3
has been made to estimate visible under-
employment and also the “underemployment 2021 2.5 2.1 3.3

rate” which is defined as the number of 2022 2.7 2.3 3.4

underemployed persons as a percentage of 2023 3.7 3.4 4.4
employed persons is calculated.
Table 6.2 shows that the female
underemployment is higher than that of male, for
all these periods from 2019 to 2023.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 6.3: Underemployment rate by level of Figure 6.2. The highest underemployment rate
education and gender - 2023 reported from Southern province and highest
unemployment rate is reported from Uva province.
Gender
Level of Education Total
Male Female The Table 6.4 shows the distribution of
Total 3.7 3.4 4.4 underemployment rate, unemployment rate and
percentage of informal sector employment. When
Grade 5 and below 4.0 3.9 4.4
regional labour market policies are defined these
Grade 6 - 10 4.3 3.9 5.3 related conditions should be considered.
G.C.E.(O/L) 3.8 3.3 5.0
The statistics shows that in some districts where
G.C.E.(A/L) & above 2.6 2.0 3.2
informal sector employment is high the
underemployment rate is also high.
As given in the Table 6.3, the highest
underemployment rate reported from the group Table 6.4: Underemployment rate/ Unemployment
with level of education grade 6 to 10. The highest rate / Percentage of informal sector employment by
underemployment among male and female are district - 2023
reported from grade 10 and below and grade 6 to
10 respectively.
Percentage
Underemp Unempl
of Informal
District loyment oyment
6.3 Underemployment / unemployment by Sector
Rate Rate
Employment
province and district
All Island 3.7 4.7 58.0
Colombo 3.7 3.7 38.4
Figure 6.2: Gampaha 3.1 4.0 41.4
Underemployment, Unemployment rates by Kalutara 3.8 6.3 46.4
province - 2023 Kandy 2.7 7.4 55.8
Matale 2.7 3.5 59.3
Nuwara Eliya 2.3 2.9 55.1
Uva Galle 7.9 6.2 59.4
Matara 7.2 6.1 61.6
Southern Hambantota 6.5 7.3 69.1
Jaffna 2.3 4.0 56.3
Central Mannar 0.8 2.1 73.5
Vavuniya 0.8 3.0 68.0
North Central Mullaitivu 7.0 2.2 75.5
Kilinochchi 2.3 3.9 68.9
Province

Sabaragamuwa Batticaloa 1.3 6.1 68.0

Ampara 2.1 3.1 66.1
Western Trincomalee 4.2 2.5 66.6
Kurunegala 5.2 3.4 66.8
Eastern Puttalam 4.7 3.5 77.2
Anuradhapura 2.0 5.2 72.6
North Western Polonnaruwa 0.5 3.9 70.2
Badulla 6.8 8.0 68.6
Northern Monaragala 1.9 4.0 73.6
Rathnapura 3.6 3.9 66.8
0% 2% 4% 6% 8% Kegalle 0.5 5.2 56.2
Rate These figures are to be treated with caution as the
Unemployment Rate Underemployment Rate corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are
high.
Both unemployment & underemployment are
indicators of labour under-utilization and provides
information on prevailing labour market slack. The
distribution of unemployment rate and
underemployment rate by province is shown in

- 34 -
 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Map (7): Underemployment rate by district - 2023

- 35 -
Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

CHAPTER SEVEN

The Informal Sector represents an important segment of the

economy and the labour market in many countries,
HIGHLIGHTS
especially developing countries; thus, measurement of the
informal sector is important in their own right as well as
contributing towards exhaustive estimates of GDP. Further Employment
informal sector plays a major role in employment creation, Contribution to
Informal Sector (%)
production and income generation.
Sri Lanka 58.0
Since its first appearance in the early 1970’s the term
“informal sector” has become so popular and nowadays it is
By Gender
used with different meanings for different purposes.
Originally it referred to a concept for data analysis and Male 62.3
policy making. Now it’s sometimes used in a much broader Female 49.5
sense to refer to a concept for the collection of data on
activities not covered by the existing, conventional source of
statistics. By Economic Sector

Agriculture 88.9
Key aspects of identifying informal sector Non-
47.1
Agriculture
 Registration of the organization (If the institutions
registered in Employment Provident Fund or in
Department of Inland Revenue, then that is
considered as formal)
or
 Accounts keeping practices of the organization (If the
institutions keep formal accounts, then that is
considered as formal)
or
 Total number of regular employees of the
organization (If the no. of regular employees greater
than or equal 10, that is considered as formal).

All other institutions which do not satisfy any one of

above conditions are considered as informal sector.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

7.1 The informal economy

A review of national statistical definitions of the Figure 7.1:

Distribution of informal / formal sector
informal sector in different countries shows that
employment by economic sector - 2023
they do not always fully correspond to the
international definition adopted by the 15th
International Conference of Labour Statisticians 100%
(15th ICLS) and the System of National Accounts
75% 47.1
(SNA) 1993. 58.0
88.9
50%
The international comparability of data on the
informal sector is affected by national differences 25% 52.9
42.0
in data sources, in the geographical coverage of
11.1
surveys, in the branches of economic activity 0%
Total Agricultural Non Agricultural
covered etc. Therefore, a criterion which is to
define the informal sector varies among countries.
Formal Informal
However, most of the countries tend to collect
informal sector information, especially those using
labour force or other household surveys for the Table 7.1 and Figure 7.1 show that, in Sri Lanka
measurement of employment in the informal the contribution of informal sector employment to
sector, were advised by the experts to use the the total employment is about 58.0 percent. The
criteria of registration of the organization, survey results also reveal that 88.9 percent of
accounts keeping system and size of their agricultural employment comprises with informal
organization. sector employment, and agriculture formal sector
employment is 11.1 percent. Formal sector
In such situation, Department of Census and agricultural employment mainly comprises with
Statistics observed the necessity of having employment in Estate sector, owned by
informal sector information, and therefore, after government or corporate sector. However, in non-
carefully reviewing of LFS schedule with the agricultural sector percentage of formal sector
assistance of the ESCAP regional advisor on employment is slightly higher than informal sector
Economic Statistics, relevant questions were employment.
included to the schedule aiming to collect the
information relating to the informal sector from Table7.2: Distribution of informal / formal sector
2006 onwards. employment by gender - 2023

In 2013, new questions were introduced to the Sector

survey in order to improve statistics on informal Total
Gender Formal Informal
sector employment in the country. However,
definition of the informal sector is same as in No. % No. %. No. %
2006.
Total 8,009,916 100.0 3,362,722 42.0 4,647,195 58.0

7.2 Distribution of informal / formal

Male 5,307,563 100.0 1,998,896 37.7 3,308,667 62.3
sector employment

Table 7.1: Composition of Informal / Formal sector Female 2,702,354 100.0 1,363,826 50.5 1,338,528 49.5
employment by economic sector – 2023

Economic sector According to the Table 7.2, among employed

Informal /
formal sector Non
Total Agricultural male majority are working in the informal sector,
agricultural
No. 8,009,916 2,088,344 5,921,572 that percentage is 62.3 percent and for female this
Total percentage is 49.5 percent. Female formal sector
% 100.0 100.0 100.0
Formal No. 3,362,722 232,794 3,129,927 participation is higher compared to that of male,
sector % 42.0 11.1 52.9 when the percentage is considered.
Informal No. 4,647,195 1,855,550 2,791,645
sector % 58.0 88.9 47.1
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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table7.3: Distribution of informal / formal sector Table7.5: Distribution of informal / formal sector
employment by level of education – 2023 employment by main occupation - 2023

Sector Sector
Level of Total Total
Formal Informal Occupation Formal Informal
education No. % No. % No. %
No. % No. % No. % Total 8,009,916 100.0 3,362,722 42.0 4,647,195 58.0
Total 8,009,916 100.0 3,362,722 42.0 4,647,195 58.0 1.Managers, Senior Officials and Legislators
Grade 5 Chief executive,
1,009,872 100.0 176,464 17.5 833,408 82.5 Senior Official, 18,771 100.0 18,771 100.0 .. ..
and below
Legislators
Grade
3,513,503 100.0 956,084 27.2 2,557,419 72.8 Administrative &
6 - 10
Commercial 93,927 100.0 91,289 97.2 2,638 2.8
G.C.E.(O/L) 1,478,787 100.0 686,772 46.4 792,015 53.6 Managers
Production and
G.C.E.(A/L)
2,007,755 100.0 1,543,402 76.9 464,353 23.1 Specialized 121,200 100.0 91,883 75.8 29,317 24.2
& above services Managers
Hospitality, Shop
Table 7.3, gives clear evidence for the and Related 86,127 100.0 46,717 54.2 39,410 45.8
relationship between level of education and services Managers
2.Professionals 587,902 100.0 498,348 84.8 89,554 15.2
informal sector participation. When level of
3.Technical &
education increases informal sector participation Associate 690,537 100.0 592,303 85.8 98,234 14.2
decreases and this is opposite for formal sector. Professionals
4.Clerks and Clerical
262,986 100.0 246,808 93.8 16,177 6.2
support workers
5.Services and Sales
984,747 100.0 457,173 46.4 527,574 53.6
Table7.4: Distribution of Informal / Formal sector workers
6.Skilled Agricultural,
employment by employment status - 2023
Forestry and Fishery 1,211,408 100.0 33,875 2.8 1,177,534 97.2
workers
Status of Sector 7.Craft and Related
Total 1,105,729 100.0 264,141 23.9 841,588 76.1
employm Formal Informal Trades workers
ent 8.Plant and Machine
No. % No. % No. % Operators and 759,785 100.0 337,068 44.4 422,717 55.6
Assemblers
Total 8,009,916 100.0 3,362,722 100.0 4,647,195 100.0
9.Elementary
2,056,729 100.0 655,376 31.9 1,401,353 68.1
occupations
Employees 4,729,711 59.0 2,982,126 88.7 1,747,585 37.6
10.Armed Forces
occupations &
Employer 208,462 2.6 111,672 3.3 96,789 2.1 30,068 100.0 28,969 96.3 1,099 3.7
Unidentified
Own occupations
account 2,627,644 32.8 215,477 6.4 2,412,168 51.9
.. Not reported.
worker
Contributing These figures are to be treated with caution as the
family 444,100 5.5 53,446 1.6 390,653 8.4 corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
worker

The Table 7.4 shows the distribution of employed The Table 7.5 disaggregates total employment
population by status of employment and by into formal/informal and into occupation groups as
formal/informal sector. The composition of the identified in SLSCO-08. It is clear that some
employment by status of employment is different occupation categories are highly consist with
for two sectors informal & formal. In informal informal sector occupation.
sector highest percentage is reported the own
account worker category (51.9%), in contrast to ISCO – 08
formal sector where highest percentage is
employees (88.7%). From 2013 onward, the survey uses SLSCO – 08,
based on International Standard Classification of
Occupation – 2008 (ISCO – 08) for occupation
classification. The classifications is mainly based
two concepts ‘ the kind of work performed or job’
and ‘skills’.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

7.3 Distribution of Informal Sector

Employment
Map (8): Participation rate of informal sector
In general, agriculture sector in developing in non-agriculture sector by districts – 2023
countries highly concentrate with informal sector
employment. However, the geographical
distribution of non-agricultural employment is
heterogeneous. Hence, it is important to see the
geographical distribution of informal sector
employment in non-agricultural sector.

Table7.6: Distribution of Informal sector employment

in Non - Agriculture sector by district - 2023

District % District %

Total 47.1 Mullaitivu 56.8

Colombo 37.5 Kilinochchi 54.3
Gampaha 39.2 Batticaloa 56.3
Kalutara 39.3 Ampara 54.4
Kandy 49.5 Trincomalee 54.1
Matale 51.8 Kurunegala 55.7
Figure 7.2:
Nuwara Eliya 53.5 Puttalam 70.6 Distribution of informal sector employment by
Galle 47.9 Anuradhapura 48.8 selected industry groups - 2023

Matara 46.6 Polonnaruwa 48.4

14.4%
Hambantota 51.6 Badulla 51.9 Education (P)

Jaffna 45.9 Monaragala 45.4 42.4%

Mannar 47.1 Rathnapura 50.3 Manufacturing (C)

Vavuniya 53.8 Kegalle 49.5 60.3%

Accommodation and food
services activities (I)
Non-agricultural sector comprises with industry
Construction, Electricity, gas, 77.3%
and service sector activities. The distribution of steam and air conditioning
informal sector employment in non-agriculture by supply, Water supply,…
district is given in Table 7.6. In 2023 about 47.1 88.9%
Agriculture, forestry and
percent of non-agricultural sector employment fishing (A)
comprises with informal sector activities. The
existing differences of percentages among the 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

districts may be due to the disparities in regional Looking at the Informal sector employment by
distribution of non-agricultural industries. Puttalam selected industry groups (Figure 7.2), 88.9
(70.6%) district share 70 percent of their non- percent of total agricultural employment is in the
agriculture employment in informal sector (Map 8). informal sector. The percentage of "Construction,
electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply,
water supply, sewerage, waste management and
remediation activities, one of the major group in
industries is 77.3. “Education” group consist with
comparatively a lower percentage of informal
sector employment (14.4%).

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

CHAPTER EIGHT

Multiple jobholding arises when individuals work in more

than one job at the same time. The term ‘Secondary
HIGHLIGHTS
Employment’ comes with the multiple jobholding. This has
been increased considerably in transition & industrialized
countries in recent decades. Statistical information on Employed Population
multiple jobholding is limited in developing countries also in
Sri Lanka 8,009,916
Sri Lanka when comparing with some other
developing/developed countries. However at present, Male 5,307,563

developing countries also collects information on multiple Female 2,702,354

jobs due its importance at the statistical estimations on
entire labour market. Also multiple jobholding directly
Secondary Employed
affects the country’s job market. Therefore it is vital to have Population
detail statistics on multiple job holding in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka 511,653

Male 401,180
Multiple Job Holders
Female 110,473
Multiple jobholders are persons who work more than one
job at the same period of time (during survey reference
Total Jobs
period).
Sri Lanka 8,521,570

Secondary Job Holders Male 5,708,743

Those who have engaged in a secondary activity other Female 2,812,827

than the main activity during the survey reference period
are considered as secondary job holders.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

8.1 Secondary Employment in Sri Lanka

Department of Census and Statistics released Out of the total secondary jobs, highest share is
statistical data on multiple job holders for the first reported from Agriculture sector (63.1%) whereas
time in 2014. Individuals may have multiple jobs at Services and Industries sectors shares 23.1 and
the same time; however, due to practical 13.8 percent respectively (Figure 8.1). When the
problems labour force survey collects data only on employed population in main job is considered,
two jobs, main and secondary. This part of chapter services sector illustrates the highest share
discusses secondary employment. (48.4%) whereas Agriculture and Industry sectors
shares 26.1 and 25.5 percent respectively (Figure
Table 8.1: Distribution of employed population & 8.2). These results show that many of the jobs in
total jobs by main and secondary job (2019 – 2023)
secondary employment are agriculture activities.

Employment Jobs
Year Figure 8.1:
Main job Main and Distribution of employed population by
Total % % % Total
only Secondary
considering secondary job by major industry
2019 8,180,693 100.0 7,648,586 93.5 532,107 6.5 8,712,799 groups – 2023

2020 7,999,093 100.0 7,485,352 93.6 513,741 6.4 8,512,834

Services
2021 8,113,507 100.0 7,623,957 94.0 489,550 6.0 8,603,057 23.1%

2022 8,147,731 100.0 7,661,571 94.0 486,160 6.0 8,633,890

2023 8,009,916 100.0 7,498,263 93.6 511,653 6.4 8,521,570

Industry
The survey results show that 511,653 (6.4%) of 13.8% Agriculture
63.1%
total employed, persons hold secondary jobs
during the survey year 2023. Out of these
secondary employed persons, 401,180 were males Agriculture Industry Services
and 110,473 were females. Table 8.1 also
illustrates that the 93.6 percent of employed
population have been engaged in main job only.
Considering main and secondary employment
together, about 8.5 million total number of jobs
Figure 8.2:
are estimated at the survey year 2023. Distribution of employed population by
considering main job by major industry groups
Table 8.2: Distribution of employed population by – 2023
main and secondary job and by sector – 2023

Agriculture
Main and 26.1%
Employed Main job
Sector % % Secondary %
population only
jobs

Total 8,009,916 100.0 7,498,263 93.6 511,653 6.4 Services

Urban 1,308,213 100.0 1,275,807 97.5 32,407 2.5 48.4%

Rural 6,349,088 100.0 5,883,321 92.7 465,767 7.3

Estate 352,615 100.0 339,135 96.2 13,480 3.8 Industry

25.5%

Table 8.2 shows the distribution of main and Agriculture Industry Services
secondary job population among sectors. Highest
rate of secondary job was reported from Rural
sector (7.3%) among all sectors whereas rates of
Estate and Urban sectors are 3.8 and 2.5 percent
respectively.
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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 8.3: Percentage distribution of secondary Those who have grade 6 to 10 level of education
employment by employment status & gender – 2023 show highest percentage (50.4%) among
secondary employed population (Figure 8.4).
Employment Total
Total Male Female
Status No. Table 8.4: Distribution of secondary employment by
511,653 100.0 78.4 21.6 occupation group – 2023
Total
Employee 94,951 100.0 85.5 14.5 Secondary
Employer 15,333 100.0 93.6 6.4 Employed
Occupation Group Population
Own Account
343,187 100.0 83.6 16.4 No %
Worker
Contributing Total 511,653 100.0
58,183 100.0 32.3 67.7
Family Worker Managers, Senior Officials and
These figures are to be treated with caution as the 9,751 1.9
Legislators
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
Professionals 29,074 5.7

Figure 8.3: Technicians and Associate

10,281 2.0
Professionals
Percentage distribution of secondary
Clerks and Clerical Support
employment by employment status by gender – 1,082 0.2
workers
2023
Services and Sales workers 27,971 5.5

Contributing Skilled Agricultural, Forestry and

251,309 49.1
Family 32.3% 67.7% Fishery workers
Worker Craft and Related Trade workers 40,318 7.9
Own
Account 83.6% 16.4% Plant and Machine operators and
29,500 5.8
Worker Assemblers
Elementary occupations 112,368 22.0
Employer 93.6% 6.4%
Armed Forces occupations and
.. ..
undefined occupations
Employee 85.5% 14.5% .. Not reported.
These figures are to be treated with caution as the
Male Female corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.

Table 8.3 & Figure 8.3 show the distribution of Table 8.4 shows the categorization of the
secondary employment by employment status. secondary employed population by major
Share of contributing family workers is 67.7 occupation groups. The choice of multiple
percent for females, which is much higher jobholding vary among different workers in
compared to the contribution of male (32.3%) in different occupation groups. Skilled Agricultural,
the same category. In other three categories the Forestry and Fishery workers are the highest
percentages are much higher for males than percentage (49.1%) reported among secondary
females. occupation.

Table 8.5: Contribution of secondary employment to

Figure 8.4:
the Informal / Formal sector by major industry
Distribution of secondary employment by level
groups – 2023
of education – 2023
Formal/ Major Industry groups
60% Informal
50.4%
Sector Total Agriculture Industries Services

40% Total 511,653 322,697 70,530 118,427

% 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
17.1% 15.8% 16.7%
20% Formal 31,273 5,556 8,324 17,394
% 6.1 1.7 11.8 14.7
0% Informal 480,380 317,141 62,206 101,033
Grade 5 & Grade 6-10 G.C.E. (O/L) G.C.E. (A/L)
Below & above % 93.9 98.3 88.2 85.3
These figures are to be treated with caution as the
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 8.5 and Figure 8.5 show that, the share of Figure 8.6 shows the contribution of male and
informal sector employment to the total secondary female to the jobs in Sri Lanka separately for main,
employment is 93.9 percent in Sri Lanka. When secondary and total jobs. Share of male to the
considering the secondary employment in total jobs (67.0%) is about two times higher to the
agriculture sector almost all are in informal sector share of females (33.0%).
(98.3%). Also the share of informal sector is very
high in both Industries and services group. Table 8.6: Distribution of total jobs by sector – 2023

Figure 8.5: Sector Main Jobs %

Secondary
%
Total
%
Contribution of secondary employment to the Jobs jobs
informal / formal sector by major industry groups
Total 8,009,916 100.0 511,653 100.0 8,521,570 100.0
– 2023
Urban 1,308,213 16.3 32,407 6.3 1,340,620 15.7

100% Rural 6,349,088 79.3 465,767 91.0 6,814,856 80.0

1.7%
6.1%
95% Estate 352,615 4.4 13,480 2.6 366,094 4.3
11.8%
14.7%
90%
Table 8.6 shows the distribution of jobs by
98.3%
85% 93.9%
residential sector separately for main, secondary
88.2% and total jobs. It is estimated that 80.0% of total
80% 85.3% jobs are supplied by rural sector individuals.

75%
Table 8.7: Distribution of total jobs by level of
Total Agriculture Industries Services
education – 2023
Informal Formal
Level of Main Secondary Total
% % %
Education Jobs Jobs Jobs
8.2 Total Jobs in Sri Lanka
Total 8,009,916 100.0 511,653 100.0 8,521,570 100.0
To calculate total jobs, main and secondary Grade 5 &
1,009,872 12.6 87,258 17.1 1,097,129 12.9
employments are considered. Total number of Below
jobs is estimated by adding the total number of Grade
3,513,503 43.9 258,070 50.4 3,771,573 44.3
6-10
main jobs (Total employment) and the total G.C.E.
1,478,787 18.5 81,091 15.8 1,559,878 18.3
number of secondary jobs. (O/L)
G.C.E.
As gives in Table 8.1, the total estimated jobs in (A/L) & 2,007,755 25.1 85,235 16.7 2,092,990 24.6
above
Sri Lanka in the survey year 2023, is about
8,521,570. As given in Table 8.7 about 57.1 percent of total
jobs are supplied by the individuals with less than
Figure 8.6:
G.C.E. (O/L) level of education.
Percentage distribution of jobs in Sri Lanka by
gender – 2023

100%
21.6%
80% 33.7% 33.0%

60%

40% 78.4%
66.3% 67.0%
20%

0%
Main job Secondary job Total jobs

Male Female

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 8.8: Distribution of total jobs by age groups – 2023 Figure 8.7:
Distribution of jobs by major industry groups –
Age 2023
Main Secondary Total
group % % %
Jobs Jobs jobs
(Yrs)
Total 8,009,916 100.0 511,653 100.0 8,521,570 100.0
46.9%
15 - 19 94,816 1.2 1,974 0.4 96,790 1.1
20 - 24 511,546 6.4 11,792 2.3 523,338 6.1 Services 23.1%

25 - 29 672,781 8.4 19,057 3.7 691,838 8.1 48.4%

30 - 39 1,626,674 20.3 92,651 18.1 1,719,325 20.2
40 &
5,104,100 63.7 386,180 75.5 5,490,280 64.4 24.8%
above
These figures are to be treated with caution as the Industries 13.8%
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
25.5%

The Table 8.8 shows that about 64.4 percent of

total jobs is supplied by the individuals with age 40 28.3%
and above. The youth (15-24 years) labour supply
Agriculture 63.1%
for the total jobs is about 7.3 percent.
26.1%

Table 8.9: Distribution of total jobs by major industry

groups – 2023 0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0%

Total jobs Secondary Jobs Main Jobs

Industry Main Secondary Total
% % %
groups Jobs Jobs jobs

Total 8,009,916 100.0 511,653 100.0 8,521,570 100.0

Agriculture 2,088,344 26.1 322,697 63.1 2,411,041 28.3

Industries 2,043,154 25.5 70,530 13.8 2,113,684 24.8

Services 3,878,418 48.4 118,427 23.1 3,996,845 46.9

Table 8.9 and Figure 8.7 show the distribution of

main, secondary and total jobs by major industry
groups. Distribution of total number of jobs by
industry groups is very important, especially when
the productivities are calculated for total labour
market.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

CHAPTER NINE

Informal employment accounts for a substantial portion

employment in many developing countries. It encompasses HIGHLIGHTS
persons in employment who, by law or in practice, are not
subject to national labour legislation and income tax or
Informal Employment
entitled to social protection and employment benefits.
(%)
Informal employment can exist in both the informal and the
Sri Lanka 67.7
formal sector of the economy.
(Measuring informality: a statistical manual on the informal
sector and informal employment/International Labour Office. By Gender
- Geneva: ILO, 2013)
Male 71.5
Sri Lanka Quarterly Labour Force Survey questionnaire was
revised in year 2006 so as to include questions to identify Female 60.3

informal sector and informal employment. In 2013 new

changes were made to study informal employment for
By Economic Sector
declaration of the jobs or the employees in detail. A statistical
Agriculture 92.4
definition for informal employment has finalized in 2017 and
Non-
throughout this chapter, characteristics of informal 59.0
Agriculture
employment is discussed broadly.

Key aspects of identifying Informal employment Informal

Employment
1) All unpaid family workers in Formal 23.1
2) All employers and own account workers in informal Sector
Enterprises
sector
3) All paid employees who do not have a permanent
employer
4) All paid employees whose employers are not
contributing to pension scheme or provident fund
on their behalf.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

9.1 Concept of Informal Employment & Figure 9.1:

Conceptual Framework Conceptual framework (17th ICLS Guidelines)

Goal Eight of seventeen SDG goals directly

focuses an informal economy, specially in informal
employment.

The 17th ICLS (International Conference of Labour

Statisticians) Guidelines specifically say that “the
operational criteria for defining informal jobs of
employees are to be determined in accordance
with national circumstances and data availability.”
Some countries (especially developing countries)
may choose to develop a measure that includes
For Sri Lanka, yet the “Household” sector has not
informal jobs of own-account workers, employers
defined. Further the category “Members of
etc. while other countries (especially developed
Producer’s cooperative” has not defined
countries) may wish to limit the measurement of
separately. Therefore the conceptual framework of
informal employment to employee jobs only.
Figure 9.1 is reduced to Table 9.1. By adding the
cell values from 1 to 6, a value for the informal
Also in 17th ICLS, Jobs (main job and secondary
employment can be calculated.
job) rather than employed persons were taken as
the units of observation in informal employment.
Table 9.1: Conceptual framework informal
But in Sri Lankan scenario, main job of an
employment – 2023
employed person only to be considered to build
the definition of informal employment.
Jobs by status in employment
However this can be further improved using Contribu
Own-account ting
information of the secondary employment. workers
Employers
family
Employees
workers

Figure 9.1 gives the conceptual framework of

Informal

Informal

Informal

Informal
Formal

Formal

Formal
Informal Employment5.

In Figure 9.1 below type of production unit (rows Formal

sector 53,446 724,265
in the table) is defined in terms of legal enterprises
organization and other enterprise-related Informal
characteristics (classifications are done according sector 2,412,168 96,789 390,653 1,747,585
enterprises
to the informal sector definition of Sri Lanka), while
type of job (columns) is defined in terms of status
in employment and other job-related The estimated total number of informal
characteristics. The main occupation is used to employment is about 5,424,906 This is about
calculate informal employment. 67.7% of the total employment. When compared
to informal sector employment which is about
58.0% of total employment. This shows that
informal employment is higher than informal
sector employment.

5 Reference for ICLS 17th

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

9.2 Distribution of Informal / Formal

Employment Table 9.3: Distribution of informal / formal
employment by gender - 2023

Table 9.2: Composition of informal / formal

Employment
employment by economic sector – 2023 Total
Formal Informal
Gender
Employment Employment
Economic Sector No. % No. %. No. %
Informal / Formal
Employment Non
Total Agricultural
Agricultural Total 8,009,916 100.0 2,585,010 32.3 5,424,906 67.7
No. 8,009,916 2,088,344 5,921,572
Total Male 5,307,563 100.0 1,512,898 28.5 3,794,665 71.5
% 100.0 100.0 100.0
Formal No. 2,585,010 159,159 2,425,851 Female 2,702,354 100.0 1,072,112 39.7 1,630,241 60.3
Employment % 32.3 7.6 41.0

Informal No. 5,424,906 1,929,185 3,495,721 As given in Table 9.3 when male/ female
Employment % 67.7 92.4 59.0 employment distribution is considered 71.5
percent of employed males are in informal
employment, while this percentage is 60.3 percent
Table 9.2 and Figure 9.3 show that in Agriculture for female.
sector 92.4 percent is informal employment while
this percentage is 59.0 in Non- agriculture sector.
Table 9.4: Distribution of informal / formal
Figure 9.2: employment by level of education - 2023
Distribution of total employment, informal
employment, informal sector – 2023
Employment
Level of Total Formal Informal
Education Employment Employment
Total Employment No. % No. % No. %
8,009,916
Total 8,009,916 100.0 2,585,010 32.3 5,424,906 67.7
Grade 5 &
1,009,872 100.0 101,725 10.1 908,147 89.9
Informal Below
Employment Informal Sector Grade 6 - 10 3,513,503 100.0 622,041 17.7 2,891,462 82.3
5,424,906 4,647,195 G.C.E.(O/L) 1,478,787 100.0 513,986 34.8 964,801 65.2
G.C.E.(A/L)
2,007,755 100.0 1,347,258 67.1 660,497 32.9
& above

Informal employment is higher among persons

with lower level of education compared to that of
Figure 9.3: persons with higher level of education.
Distribution of informal / formal employment by
economic sector - 2023
Table 9.5: Distribution of informal / formal
employment by employment status - 2023
100%

80%
59.0 Employment
67.7 Total
60% Status of Formal Informal
92.4 Education Employment Employment
40% No. % No. % No. %
Total 8,009,916 100.0 2,585,010 100.0 5,424,906 100.0
20% 41.0
32.3
Employees 4,729,711 59.0 2,257,861 87.3 2,471,850 45.6
0% 7.6
Total Agriculture Non agriculture Employer 208,462 2.6 111,672 4.3 96,789 1.8
Own account
Formal employment Informal employment 2,627,644 32.8 215,477 8.3 2,412,168 44.5
worker
Contributing
444,100 5.5 0 0.0 444,100 8.2
family worker

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

According to the informal employment definition some occupations have comparatively lower
all of the contributing family workers are percentage of informal employment.
considered as informal employment. Table 9.5
shows 45.6 percent of informal employment are Table 9.7: Composition of employment in non-
employees and 44.5 percent are own account agriculture sector – 2023
workers.
Non-agriculture Sector
Informal /
Table 9.6: Distribution of informal / formal Formal Sector Formal Informal
Total
Employment Employment
employment by occupation - 2023
No. 5,921,572 2,425,851 3,495,721
Employment Total
% 100.0 41.0 59.0
Total Formal Informal
Occupation
Employment Employment Formal No. 3,129,927 2,425,851 704,076
No. % No. % No. % Sector % 100.0 77.5 22.5
Total 8,009,916 100.0 2,585,010 32.3 5,424,906 67.7
Informal No. 2,791,645 0 2,791,645
1.Managers, Senior Officials and Legislators
Sector % 100.0 0.0 100.0
Chief Executive,
Senior Official, 18,771 100.0 16,864 89.8 1,907 10.2
Legislators About 59.0 percent of non-agriculture sector
Administrative
& Commercial 93,927 100.0 83,980 89.4 9,947 10.6 employment is informal employment. This
Managers percentage for male is 63.3% and for female it is
Production and
Specialized 50.9% (Table 9.8).
121,200 100.0 86,978 71.8 34,222 28.2
services
Managers
Hospitality, Table 9.8: Composition of employment in non-
Shop and agriculture sector by sex – 2023
86,127 100.0 44,837 52.1 41,291 47.9
Related services
Managers Non-agriculture Sector
2.Professionals 587,902 100.0 447,788 76.2 140,114 23.8 Sex Formal Informal
3.Technical & Total
Employment Employment
Associate 690,537 100.0 521,991 75.6 168,547 24.4
Professionals No. 5,921,572 2,425,851 3,495,721
4.Clerks and Total
% 100.0 41.0 59.0
Clerical
262,986 100.0 200,301 76.2 62,684 23.8
support No. 3,888,979 1,428,430 2,460,550
workers Male
5.Services and % 100.0 36.7 63.3
984,747 100.0 322,329 32.7 662,418 67.3
Sales workers No. 2,032,593 997,421 1,035,171
6.Skilled Female
Agricultural, % 100.0 49.1 50.9
1,211,408 100.0 23,392 1.9 1,188,017 98.1
Forestry and
Fishery workers
7.Craft and Table 9.9: Percentage of informal employment in
Related Trades 1,105,729 100.0 171,191 15.5 934,537 84.5
workers non-agriculture sector by district - 2023
8.Plant and
Machine District % District %
759,785 100.0 247,845 32.6 511,940 67.4
Operators and
Assemblers Total 59.0 Mullaitivu 70.6
9.Elementary
2,056,729 100.0 389,356 18.9 1,667,373 81.1
occupations Colombo 52.5 Kilinochchi 63.7
10.Armed Forces
occupations & Gampaha 49.6 Batticaloa 66.0
30,068 100.0 28,158 93.6 1,910 6.4
Unidentified
occupations
Kalutara 50.4 Ampara 61.7
These figures are to be treated with caution as the Kandy 63.8 Trincomalee 63.3
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are
high. Matale 63.8 Kurunegala 66.2
Nuwara Eliya 61.6 Puttalam 79.1
The Table 9.6 disaggregates Formal/Informal
Galle 61.5 Anuradhapura 58.8
employment into occupation groups as identified
in SLSCO-08. It is clear that some occupation Matara 59.4 Polonnaruwa 60.1
categories are highly consisted with informal Hambantota 63.3 Badulla 60.6
employment, such as Skilled Agricultural Forestry Jaffna 56.5 Monaragala 57.0
and Fishery workers, Craft and Related Trades Mannar 59.3 Rathnapura 66.3
workers, Elementary occupations and etc. While
Vavuniya 65.4 Kegalle 61.3

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Except Gampaha, all other district more than fifty Table 9.10: Distribution of informal employees by job
percent of employment are informal employment important characteristics - 2023

in non-agriculture sector, while in Puttalam district

Informal Employment
this percentage is 79.1 percent. This information is All Employees
Total Male Female
clearly depicted in Figure 9.4.
Total 2,471,850 1,815,177 656,673
Permanent 140,123 103,300 36,823
Figure 9.4:
Distribution of informal employment in non- Self-stated Temporary 1,157,524 803,040 354,484
agriculture sector by district - 2023 job category Casual 360,417 225,995 134,421
No
permanent 813,786 682,841 130,945
employer

Sri Lanka
Employees with Informal Employment
Puttalam
permanent employer Total Male Female
Mullativu
Total 1,658,064 1,132,336 525,728
Ratnapura Entitled for
Kurunegala annual paid Yes 83,772 53,540 30,232
leave or
Batticaloa No 1,518,470 1,040,994 477,475
leave
Vavunia encashment Do not
55,822 37,802 18,020
know
Kandy
Have an Total 1,658,064 1,132,336 525,728
Matale appointment
Yes 171,976 108,928 63,048
Kilinochchi letter (written
Trincomalee
contract) No 1,442,517 994,755 447,762
from your Do not
Hambantota employer 43,571 28,653 14,918
know
Ampara
Nuwara Eliya As given in Table 9.10 among informal
Galle employee’s majority reported that their
Kegalle employment is “Temporary”. About 0.8 million
Badulla informal employees do not have a permanent
Polonnaruwa employer. Majority of informal employees with a
Matara permanent employment do not entitle for annual
Mannar
paid leave or leave encashment. Also majority of
Anuradhapura
them do not have an appointment letter from their
Moneragala
employer.
Jaffna
Colombo
Kalutara
Gampaha

0 20 40 60 80
Percentage (%)

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

CHAPTER TEN

In order to provide information for educational planners,

especially in developing countries, literacy is an
important variable regarding the issues such as HIGHLIGHTS
improvement of the educational system and to increase
the educational related programs etc.
Literacy Rate (%)

Sri Lanka 93.2

As labour force surveys are often conducted at a higher
frequency than the other surveys, it was decided to
include the questions on literacy in order to provide By Gender
quarterly/Annual estimates for the data users and for the
Male 94.0
policy makers. LFS therefore estimates literacy by
Female 92.6
considering the language literacy skills for Sinhala, Tamil
and English. If a person (age 10 and above) is literate in
any one of the language then he/she is considered as By Sector

literate. Urban 95.3

Rural 93.4

Estate 81.3
Who is literate?

 A person who can both read and write with

understanding a short statement is considered as
“Literate”.
 A person who can read and write only his name,
figures or memorized phrase, are not considered
as “Literate”.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

10.1 Distribution of Literacy Rate Table 10.2 provides district pattern of the literacy
levels by gender.
Table10.1: Literacy rate by sector & gender 2019 - 2023

Sector Gender Figure 10.1:

Sri
Year Literacy rates by district - 2023
Lanka
Urban Rural Estate Male Female

2019 92.9 95.7 92.9 82.7 93.6 92.3

2020 93.0 95.4 92.9 85.4 93.8 92.2 Badulla

2021 93.3 95.7 93.3 82.5 94.3 92.3 Batticaloa

2022 93.1 95.4 93.2 82.2 93.9 92.4 Trincomalee

2023 93.2 95.3 93.4 81.3 94.0 92.6 Nuwara Eliya

Vavuniya
Literacy rate for the population aged 10 years and
over is 93.2 percent in 2023. It means that about Ampara
93.2 percent of 10 years and above population Kilinochchi
can both read and write with understanding a
Polonnaruwa
short statement at least in any of three languages
Sinhala, Tamil or English. Urban sector literacy Monaragala
rate is higher than Rural and Estate sector. Also
Hambantota
male literacy is slightly higher when compared
Rathnapura
with that of the female.
Matara
District

Table10.2: Literacy rates by district & gender - 2023 Mullaitivu

Matale
Literacy rate (%)
District Kandy
Total Male Female
Puttalam
Total 93.2 94.0 92.6
Colombo 96.1 96.3 95.9 Galle
Gampaha 96.7 96.5 96.8
Kurunegala
Kalutara 96.0 96.1 96.0
Kandy 93.5 94.5 92.7 Anuradhapura
Matale 93.1 94.6 91.9
Nuwara Eliya 89.1 91.6 87.0 Kegalle
Galle 93.9 94.2 93.6
Jaffna
Matara 91.4 91.7 91.2
Hambantota 90.6 90.7 90.6 Kalutara
Jaffna 95.4 94.8 95.9
Mannar 96.4 96.7 96.0 Colombo
Vavuniya 89.4 92.3 86.9
Mannar
Mullaitivu 92.0 92.0 91.9
Kilinochchi 90.5 91.6 89.6 Gampaha
Batticaloa 88.1 89.8 86.7
Ampara 89.5 92.0 87.1 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
Trincomalee 88.3 91.1 85.7
Literacy rate (%)
Kurunegala 94.1 94.5 93.7
Puttalam 93.8 93.5 94.0
Anuradhapura 94.1 94.7 93.6
Polonnaruwa 90.6 90.1 91.0 According to the Table 10.2 Gampaha districts
Badulla 86.9 90.4 83.9 shows the highest literacy rate (96.7%), the lowest
Monaragala 90.6 91.7 89.6 literacy rate is reported from Badulla district.
Rathnapura 91.4 92.2 90.6
Kegalle 94.3 95.6 93.2

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table10.3: Literacy rates by age group & gender - Figure 10.2:

2023 Literacy rates by age group & gender - 2023

Age group Literacy rate (%)

10 – 14
100
Total Male Female 60 + 15 – 19
95
Total 93.2 94.0 92.6 90
10 – 14 98.9 98.8 98.9 55 - 59 85 20 – 24

15 – 19 99.4 99.4 99.5 80

20 – 24 98.7 98.4 99.0 75
50 – 54 25 – 29
25 – 29 98.2 97.9 98.5
30 – 34 97.9 97.5 98.2
35 – 39 97.0 96.8 97.2 45 - 49 30 – 34
40 – 44 95.7 94.6 96.7
40 – 44 35 – 39
45 - 49 94.0 94.0 93.9
Total Male Female
50 – 54 91.6 91.3 91.8
55 - 59 88.1 88.8 87.5
60 + 83.8 87.0 81.3
Map (9): Literacy rate by district – 2023
Lowest literacy rate (83.8%) is reported in
population over 60 years while highest (99.4%) is
reported among aged 15 – 19 years.

Younger cohorts show higher literacy rates and

this indicates the achievement of primary
education of the country. This is clearly depicted
in the Figure 10.2. Also higher literacy among
female in younger age groups (below age 44
years) compared to male literacy in same age
groups show very important pattern. As such, it
shows the absence of gender discrimination in
achieving education of the country.

Map 9 shows the district level literacy rates,

higher literacy rates observed in the Western
area of the country.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Timely and accurate information on Information and

Communication Technology (ICT) itself is essential for HIGHLIGHTS
justification and proper direction of the Government
efforts, private sector investments, to study the changing
pattern of the demand for internet services and for Computer Literacy
continuous progress monitoring on ICT achievements. Rate (%)

For this computer literacy data can contribute immensely Sri Lanka 39.0
to an understanding of the demand and supply of skills
in the global, knowledge based economy. Also statistics
on the availability of a computer/laptop in households By Gender
and usage of internet and email that exist between
Male 40.9
demographic and geographic groups provides more
insight for the scattering of ICT facilities. Female 37.2

To cater the relevant data need Department of Census &

Statistics has conducted Computer Literacy Surveys in By Language Literacy
2004, 2006/07 and 2009 to measure household
characteristics of the usage of computers. Since 2014, Sinhala 45.4
new chapter is included to labour force survey report to
Tamil 48.0
disseminate computer literacy information annually.
English 77.4

What is the computer literacy?

A person (aged 5-69) is considered as a computer literate

person if he/she could use computer on his/her own. For
example, even if a 5 years old child can play a computer
game then he/she is considered as a computer literate
person.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

11.1 Household Computer Ownership

If a desktop or laptop is available at a household Figure 11.1:

then that household is considered as a computer Percentage of desktop or laptop computer
owned household. Table 11.1 shows the owned households by province, 2021 - 2023
percentage distribution of computer owned
households by Sector and Province. In 2023, at
Western
least one computer is available in 20.2 percent of 40.0
Sabaraga
households in the country. That is one out of every muwa 30.0
Central
five households owns either a desktop or a laptop
20.0
computer. This percentage is 34.0 percent in
10.0
Urban sector and Rural and Estate sector show Uva Southern
18.1 percent and 4.6 percent respectively. When 0.0

the provinces are considered the highest

availability is in the Western province (33.5%) North-
Northern
while the lowest availability is reported from the central

Eastern (8.6%). North-

Eastern
western

2021 2022 2023

Table11.1: Percentage of computer owned
households by sector, province and survey year,
Percentage of availability of desktop or laptop
2021 - 2023
computer at a household vary between 20% - 23%
between 2021 to 2023 period.
Desktop or
Sector/ Desktop(%)
Laptop(%)
Province 11.2 Computer Literacy and Digital
2021 2022 2023 2021 2022 2023
literacy
Sri Lanka 7.0 6.3 5.7 22.9 21.9 20.2

Urban 10.3 9.6 8.0 38.3 36.1 34.0

Rural 6.6 5.9 5.5 20.7 20.0 18.1 Definition for Computer literacy:
Estate 1.6 0.7 1.6 4.1 3.1 4.6 A person (aged 5-69) is considered as a
computer literate person if he/she could use
Province
computer on his/her own. For example, even
Western 11.0 9.5 8.5 36.5 35.8 33.5 if a 5 years old child can play a computer
Central 6.1 4.8 4.8 19.7 19.0 17.6 game, then he/she is considered as a
computer literate person.
Southern 6.2 6.2 5.4 19.8 19.5 17.7

Northern 3.1 1.6 3.3 15.1 12.9 13.2 Definition for computer literacy rate:
Computer Literate population expressed as a
Eastern 3.8 3.7 1.6 11.9 11.4 8.6
percentage to the total population, (aged 5 –
North-western 5.5 6.4 4.8 18.6 19.3 15.7 69 years) within the respective domain.
North-central 4.3 3.6 4.7 16.1 13.4 16.0 Definition for Digital literacy:
Uva 3.7 3.3 3.7 13.4 12.4 10.2 A person (aged 5-69) is considered as a digital
literate person if he/she could use computer,
Sabaragamuwa 8.7 7.9 7.7 22.0 20.0 18.2
lap top, tablet or smartphone on his/her own.
These figures are to be treated with caution as the
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are Definition for Digital literacy rate:
high. Digital Literate population expressed as a
percentage to the total population, (aged 5 –
69 years) within the respective domain.

54
 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table11.2: Computer literacy rate by sector, Table 11.3: Computer literacy rate by gender, age,
province and survey year, 2020 - 2023 level of education and language literacy, 2021 -
2023
Computer literacy rate (%)
Sector/Province Gender, Age group, Computer literacy rate
2021 2022 2023 (%)
Education attainment
Sri Lanka 34.3 36.0 39.0 and Language literacy 2021 2022 2023
Sector Sri Lanka 34.3 36.0 39.0
Urban 49.0 48.9 52.9 By Sex
Male 36.1 37.3 40.9
Rural 32.3 34.6 37.1
Female 32.6 34.8 37.2
Estate 13.9 11.5 17.9 By Age group(years)
Province 5-9 17.1 15.5 15.5
Western 45.9 47.5 49.9 10 - 14 47.0 49.0 56.3
15 - 19 71.4 74.8 79.4
Central 31.6 33.7 37.0
20 - 24 67.8 69.3 74.7
Southern 30.7 33.9 39.6 25 - 29 55.8 59.3 64.1
Northern 27.9 31.4 38.2 30 - 34 44.9 47.4 52.8
Eastern 28.9 30.2 34.3 35 - 39 34.0 38.4 39.8
40 - 49 23.9 25.7 29.4
North Western 31.2 33.1 31.7
50 - 59 14.4 14.8 16.6
North Central 23.4 24.0 29.3 60 - 69 7.0 7.5 8.3
Uva 24.2 24.1 26.5 By Educational
Sabaragamuwa 34.1 35.3 37.0 attainment
No schooling 2.8 3.1 1.8
Below grade 6 12.6 12.9 14.3
Percentage of Computer Literate population Grade 6-10 22.3 24.8 27.7
(Computer Literacy) over the survey periods has G.C.E (O/L) 46.2 49.1 51.9
been gradually increasing. Overall Computer G.C.E. (A/L) or above 76.8 77.8 80.1
Literacy reported in 2023 for Sri Lanka is 39.0 By Language literacy
percent. Sinhala 40.3 42.3 45.4
Tamil 37.5 41.5 48.0
English 76.3 77.1 77.4
The survey results show an increase of 4.7 These figures are to be treated with caution as the
percentage points from 2021 to 2023. Urban corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are
sector shows the highest computer literacy rate high.
(52.9%) among residential sectors in 2023.
Computer literacy rate for Rural and Estate sectors Figure 11.2:
are 37.1 percent and 17.9 percent respectively. Distribution of computer literacy rate by
educational attainment and language literacy,
Among the provinces the highest level of 2021 - 2023
computer literacy is reported from the Western
80
province (49.9%). The lowest computer literacy is
70
reported from the Uva province (26.5%).
60
Percentage (%)

50

As given in Table 11.3 the Computer literacy 40

among males (40.9%) is higher than that of 30

20
females (37.2%) in 2023. Young youths (aged 15 –
10
19 years) show the highest computer literacy rate
0
(79.4%) among all other age groups.
No schooling

Sinhala
G.C.E (O/L)

Tamil
Below grade 6

Grade 6-10

G.C.E. (A/L) & above

English

The survey results reveal that higher the level of

education higher the computer literacy. The group
with A/L or above level of education shows the
Educational Attainment Language Literacy
highest computer literacy rate (80.1%). Also
computer literacy is higher among those who are
2021 2022 2023
literate in English language (77.4%).

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table11.4: Computer literacy among computer Among the unemployed, aged (25-29) group
aware employed population (aged 15 – 69 years) by shows highest computer literate population
occupation, 2021 - 2023
percentage (83.7%) in 2023. Annual results reveal
Computer literacy (%) that among unemployed many have at least some
Occupation group ICT skills. Even among the group aged 40-69
2021 2022 2023
every one out of four is computer literate (28.3%)
Sri Lanka 66.3 68.5 72.4 in 2023 (Table 11.5).
Managers, Senior Officials
86.0 87.2 90.9
and Legislators Table11.6: Computer literacy rate and Digital literacy
Professionals 93.4 93.8 96.0 rate by gender, sector and age groups – 2022
Technicians and Associate
90.3 92.2 94.0 Gender, Sector, Age Computer Digital
Professionals
Clerks and Clerical support group Literacy Literacy
91.9 93.4 94.1
workers Sri Lanka 39.0 63.5
Services and Sales workers 55.0 58.2 61.4 By Sex
Skilled Agricultura1, Forestry Male 40.9 65.9
21.2 24.8 26.2
and Fishery workers
Female 37.2 61.3
Craft and Related Trades
38.7 42.0 50.5 Sector
workers
Plant and Machine operators Urban 52.9 76.6
37.7 40.8 45.7
and Assemblers Rural 37.1 61.7
Elementary occupations 30.2 37.2 39.0 Estate 17.9 44.8
Armed Forces Occupations By Age group(years)
85.1 70.3 96.4
& unidentified occupations
5-9 15.5 47.2
These figures are to be treated with caution as the
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are 10 - 14 56.3 77.8
high. 15 - 19 79.4 93.0
20 - 24 74.7 93.8
Computer literacy among the employed
population who are aware of computer in Sri 25 - 29 64.1 89.7

Lanka is around 72.4% in 2023. The positions such 30 - 34 52.8 84.2

as Senior officials and Managers (90.9%), 35 - 39 39.8 75.4

Professionals (96.0%), Technical and Associate 40 - 49 29.4 62.5

professionals (94.0%), Clerks and Clerical support 50 - 59 16.6 39.6
workers (94.1%) have higher computer literacy 60 - 69 8.3 23.3
rates. Also, even among the individuals engage in
elementary occupations 39.0 percent are When the digital literacy is considered 63.5%
computer literate in 2023. (aged 5 -69) has digital literacy. Digital literacy is
higher than computer literacy for all disaggregated
Table 11.5: Computer literacy among unemployed levels, showing the drift from Personal Computer
population (aged 15 – 69 years) by age groups, 2021 to Smartphones/ Tablets (Table 11.6).
- 2023

Age Percentage of computer literate

group population among unemployment (%) 11.3 Source of Computer Training
(years) 2021 2022 2023 Table 11.7 shows that the majority of those who
Sri Lanka 67.6 67.2 70.3 are computer literate have received training from
15 - 19 56.9 52.8 61.8 School/University. The training received through
20 - 24 77.1 77.3 82.7 Government training centers are comparatively
25 - 29 77.7 78.4 83.7 low.
30 - 39 56.7 66.6 65.3
40 – 69 34.3 32.5 28.3

56
 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 11.7: Percentage distribution of computer shows the highest usage of both e-mail and
literate household population (aged 5 – 69 years) by internet compared to other two sectors. Also
sources of receiving computer knowledge* and
persons in age group 20 - 24 indicate a higher
sector – 2023
internet and email usage compared to the persons
Source of receiving Total Residential sector (%) in other age groups.
computer knowledge (%) Urban Rural Estate
Figure 11.3:
Private training course 19.7 21.1 19.3 18.7 Percentage distribution of internet and e-mail
School/University 61.0 59.7 61.1 73.9 using household population (aged 5 – 69 years)
Govt. training centers 6.4 5.2 6.7 6.4
by age group – 2023
Employment activities 19.6 25.9 18.0 11.1
Work place 14.0 19.7 12.5 7.5 4.2%
60 - 69 15.4%
Family members 30.6 32.1 30.7 11.8
Friends/ Relatives 29.5 28.3 30.1 19.7 50 - 59 10.0%
29.6%
Self 40.2 49.9 37.8 17.2
Other 7.7 8.0 7.6 4.3 40 - 49 16.7%
50.2%
* Multiple choice answers
35 - 39 24.1%
These figures are to be treated with caution as 64.7%

Age group
the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values 30 - 34 32.6%
74.5%
are high.
25 - 29 42.3%
82.4%
11.4 Internet and E-mail use 47.3%
20 - 24 87.2%
Table 11.8: Percentage distribution of Internet and 28.3%
15 - 19 78.5%
E-mail using household population (aged 5 – 69
years) by Sex, Sector and Age group, 2021 - 2023 5 - 14 4.1%
41.3%

Gender, Household Population (aged 5-69) 0% 20% 40% 60% 80%

Sector, Rate
Age Internet (%) E-mail (%) Used e-mail Used internet
group 2021 2022 2023 2021 2022 2023
(years) Table 11.9: Percentage distribution of device use to
Sri Lanka 44.5 48.3 51.2 17.8 17.6 18.6
connect to internet/ email household population* (aged
By Sex 5 – 69 years) by sex, sector and age groups – 2023
Male 47.9 51.0 53.8 19.7 19.4 20.7
Female 41.4 46.0 48.8 16.2 16.1 16.6 Device use to connect to internet/
By Sector Gender, email (%)
Total
Sector, Age
Urban 61.2 62.2 66.9 30.3 25.6 29.8
group
(%) Desktop Smart Tablet Mobile
Rural 42.0 46.6 48.8 16.0 16.6 16.8 / Laptop phone computer phone
Estate 26.0 27.1 32.4 4.4 5.3 6.5 Sri Lanka 100.0 18.0 79.7 1.4 0.9
By Age By Sex
Groups Male 100.0 19.0 78.5 1.5 0.9
5 - 14 39.7 40.3 41.3 7.2 5.1 4.1 Female 100.0 17.0 80.9 1.3 0.8
15 - 19 74.3 77.8 78.5 31.5 29.2 28.3 By Sector
20 - 24 80.0 83.1 87.2 43.2 43.6 47.3 Urban 100.0 24.1 73.1 2.2 0.6
25 - 29 74.1 79.3 82.4 37.5 38.8 42.3 Rural 100.0 16.4 81.5 1.2 0.9
30 - 34 65.1 70.3 74.5 29.5 29.6 32.6 Estate 100.0 7.4 90.4 1.0 1.2
35 - 39 54.8 61.8 64.7 21.3 23.2 24.1 By Age
40 - 49 38.9 44.8 50.2 14.5 15.3 16.7 group(years)
5-9 100.0 9.6 88.0 1.6 0.8
50 - 59 20.9 24.6 29.6 8.8 8.3 10.0
10 - 14 100.0 15.8 81.8 1.6 0.9
60 - 69 9.4 12.7 15.4 3.3 3.7 4.2
15 - 19 100.0 18.3 79.1 1.4 1.3
20 - 24 100.0 21.3 76.4 1.4 0.8
The Table 11.8 depicts that 51.2 percent of the 25 - 29 100.0 22.2 75.5 1.6 0.8
population aged 5 to 69 years use the internet 30 - 34 100.0 19.9 77.8 1.5 0.9
facility at least once during twelve months in 2023 35 - 39 100.0 17.2 80.8 1.2 0.8
and 18.6 percent of the household population 40 - 49 100.0 15.9 81.8 1.4 0.9
50 - 59 100.0 17.4 80.5 1.5 0.7
aged 5 – 69 years have used E–mail facility at least
60 - 69 100.0 13.6 84.7 1.3 0.4
once during the last 12 months period in 2023. * Multiple choice answers
The survey results further reveal that in the Urban These figures are to be treated with caution as the
corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are
sector, where the facilities are largely available,
high.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023
Table 1 - Historical table of labour force status (current) of the household population,15 years of age and
over - Both sexes
Household Labour force Not in
population Total Labour Employed Unemployed labour
Year (15 years labour force Rate Rate force
& over) force partici: Number (% to total Number (% to total number
rate(%) labour labour
force) force)
2016 15,448,679 8,310,682 53.8 7,947,683 95.6 362,999 4.4 7,137,997
2017 15,843,735 8,566,686 54.1 8,208,179 95.8 358,507 4.2 7,277,049
2018 16,196,232 8,387,759 51.8 8,015,166 95.6 372,593 4.4 7,808,473
2019 16,424,016 8,592,010 52.3 8,180,693 95.2 411,318 4.8 7,832,006
2020 16,739,396 8,466,606 50.6 7,999,093 94.5 467,513 5.5 8,272,790
2021 17,133,659 8,553,290 49.9 8,113,507 94.9 439,783 5.1 8,580,369
2022 17,161,973 8,547,062 49.8 8,147,731 95.3 399,332 4.7 8,614,911
2023 17,306,492 8,408,331 48.6 8,009,916 95.3 398,415 4.7 8,898,161

Table 1A - Historical table of labour force status (current) of the household population, 15 years of age and
over - Male
Household Labour force Not in
population Total Labour Employed Unemployed labour
Year (15 years labour force Rate Rate force
& over) force number Number (% to total Number (% to total number
rate(%) labour labour
force) force)
2016 7,064,736 5,303,502 75.1 5,149,948 97.1 153,554 2.9 1,761,234
2017 7,292,047 5,434,510 74.5 5,279,158 97.1 155,352 2.9 1,857,537
2018 7,488,320 5,464,236 73.0 5,300,310 97.0 163,926 3.0 2,024,084
2019 7,610,113 5,554,192 73.0 5,368,896 96.7 185,296 3.3 2,055,920
2020 7,788,634 5,598,004 71.9 5,372,947 96.0 225,057 4.0 2,190,629
2021 7,915,659 5,621,223 71.0 5,414,280 96.3 206,943 3.7 2,294,436
2022 7,914,636 5,580,786 70.5 5,373,965 96.3 206,822 3.7 2,333,850
2023 8,024,760 5,503,595 68.6 5,307,563 96.4 196,032 3.6 2,521,164

Table 1B - Historical table of labour force status (current) of the household population, 15 years of age and
over - Female
Household Labour force Not in
population Total Labour Employed Unemployed labour
Year (15 years labour force Rate Rate force
& over) force partici: Number (% to total Number (% to total number
rate(%) labour labour
force) force)
2016 8,383,943 3,007,180 35.9 2,797,735 93.0 209,445 7.0 5,376,764
2017 8,551,688 3,132,176 36.6 2,929,021 93.5 203,155 6.5 5,419,512
2018 8,707,912 2,923,523 33.6 2,714,855 92.9 208,667 7.1 5,784,390
2019 8,813,903 3,037,818 34.5 2,811,796 92.6 226,022 7.4 5,776,085
2020 8,950,763 2,868,602 32.0 2,626,146 91.5 242,456 8.5 6,082,161
2021 9,218,000 2,932,067 31.8 2,699,228 92.1 232,840 7.9 6,285,933
2022 9,247,337 2,966,276 32.1 2,773,766 93.5 192,510 6.5 6,281,061
2023 9,281,733 2,904,736 31.3 2,702,354 93.0 202,382 7.0 6,376,997

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 2 - Labour force status (current) of the household population 15 years of age and over, by age - Both
sexes

Household Labour force Not in

pop: Total Labour Employed Unemployed labour
Age (15 years labour force Rate Rate force
& over) force partici: Number (% to total Number (% to total number
rate(%) labour labour
force) force)
All ages 17,306,492 8,408,331 48.6 8,009,916 95.3 398,415 4.7 8,898,161
15 - 19 Yrs 1,813,474 134,553 7.4 94,816 70.5 39,737 29.5 1,678,922
20 - 24 Yrs 1,466,312 652,835 44.5 511,546 78.4 141,290 21.6 813,477
25 - 29 Yrs 1,165,415 773,544 66.4 672,781 87.0 100,763 13.0 391,871
30 - 39 Yrs 2,533,281 1,683,056 66.4 1,626,674 96.7 56,381 3.3 850,226
40 + Yrs 10,328,010 5,164,343 50.0 5,104,100 98.8 60,244 1.2 5,163,667

Table 2A - Labour force status (current) of the household population 15 years of age and over, by age - Male

Household Labour force Not in

pop: Total labour Employed Unemployed labour
Age (15 years labour force Rate Rate force
& over) force partici: Number (% to total Number (% to total number
rate(%) labour labour
force) force)
All ages 8,024,760 5,503,595 68.6 5,307,563 96.4 196,032 3.6 2,521,164
15 - 19 Yrs 913,578 99,134 10.9 72,003 72.6 27,130 27.4 814,445
20 - 24 Yrs 712,913 409,589 57.5 337,938 82.5 71,651 17.5 303,324
25 - 29 Yrs 553,371 487,301 88.1 445,060 91.3 42,241 8.7 66,070
30 - 39 Yrs 1,143,451 1,086,119 95.0 1,062,163 97.8 23,957 2.2 57,332
40 + Yrs 4,701,446 3,421,452 72.8 3,390,398 99.1 31,053 0.9 1,279,994

Table 2B - Labour force status (current) of the household population 15 years of age and over, by age -
Female

Household Labour force Not in

pop: Total Labour Employed Unemployed labour
Age (15 years labour force Rate Rate force
& over) force partici: Number (% to total Number (% to total number
rate(%) labour labour
force) force)
All ages 9,281,733 2,904,736 31.3 2,702,354 93.0 202,382 7.0 6,376,997
15 - 19 Yrs 899,896 35,419 3.9 22,812 64.4 12,607 35.6 864,477
20 - 24 Yrs 753,399 243,246 32.3 173,608 71.4 69,638 28.6 510,153
25 - 29 Yrs 612,044 286,243 46.8 227,721 79.6 58,522 20.4 325,801
30 - 39 Yrs 1,389,830 596,936 43.0 564,512 94.6 32,425 5.4 792,894
40 + Yrs 5,626,564 1,742,892 31.0 1,713,701 98.3 29,190 1.7 3,883,672

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 3 - Historical table of currently employed persons by age groups (percentage) - Both sexes

Age groups
Year All ages 15 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 29 30 - 39 40+
Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs
2016 100.0 2.0 7.3 9.5 24.2 57.0
2017 100.0 2.1 7.6 9.2 23.4 57.7
2018 100.0 1.8 7.2 9.0 22.6 59.4
2019 100.0 1.9 7.1 9.3 22.6 59.1
2020 100.0 1.7 6.8 9.2 22.0 60.2
2021 100.0 1.4 6.3 9.4 21.1 61.8
2022 100.0 1.3 6.5 9.0 21.4 61.8
2023 100.0 1.2 6.4 8.4 20.3 63.7

Table 3A - Historical table of currently employed persons by age groups (percentage) - Male

Age groups
Year All ages 15 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 29 30 - 39 40+
Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs
2016 100.0 2.2 7.3 9.4 24.2 56.9
2017 100.0 2.3 7.5 9.4 23.5 57.3
2018 100.0 2.0 7.3 9.4 22.6 58.7
2019 100.0 2.1 7.2 9.4 22.3 59.0
2020 100.0 1.9 7.0 9.1 21.8 60.3
2021 100.0 1.6 6.4 9.4 20.5 62.0
2022 100.0 1.3 6.4 9.1 21.2 62.0
2023 100.0 1.4 6.4 8.4 20.0 63.9

Table 3B - historical table of currently employed persons by age groups (percentage) - Female

Age groups
Year All ages 15 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 29 30 - 39 40+
Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs Yrs
2016 100.0 1.6 7.2 9.6 24.3 57.3
2017 100.0 1.7 7.8 9.0 23.2 58.3
2018 100.0 1.4 6.9 8.3 22.7 60.7
2019 100.0 1.4 7.0 9.1 23.1 59.4
2020 100.0 1.4 6.5 9.3 22.6 60.1
2021 100.0 1.1 6.0 9.3 22.3 61.4
2022 100.0 1.1 6.8 8.9 21.8 61.4
2023 100.0 0.8 6.4 8.4 20.9 63.4

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 4 - Historical table of currently employed persons by level of education (percentage) - Both sexes

Level of education
Year Total Grade 5 & Grades GCE (O.L)/ GCE (A.L)/
below 6 - 10 NCGE HNCE & above
2016 100.0 16.2 47.4 16.3 20.1
2017 100.0 15.8 46.1 17.3 20.8
2018 100.0 14.9 45.9 18.1 21.2
2019 100.0 14.0 45.8 17.4 22.8
2020 100.0 13.7 46.0 17.8 22.5
2021 100.0 13.0 45.7 17.6 23.8
2022 100.0 12.7 45.1 17.6 24.6
2023 100.0 12.6 43.9 18.5 25.1

Table 4A - Historical table of currently employed persons by level of education (percentage) - Male

Level of education
Year Total Grade 5 & Grades GCE (O.L)/ GCE (A.L)/
below 6 - 10 NCGE HNCE & above
2016 100.0 16.1 51.1 16.7 16.1
2017 100.0 15.7 49.8 17.6 16.9
2018 100.0 14.7 49.7 18.8 16.7
2019 100.0 14.1 49.6 18.0 18.2
2020 100.0 13.8 49.8 18.3 18.1
2021 100.0 13.0 49.6 18.6 18.8
2022 100.0 13.0 49.1 18.5 19.4
2023 100.0 12.9 48.0 19.2 19.9

Table 4B - Historical table of currently employed persons by level of education (percentage) - Female

Level of education
Year Total Grade 5 & Grades GCE (O.L)/ GCE (A.L)/
below 6 - 10 NCGE HNCE & above
2016 100.0 16.3 40.6 15.6 27.5
2017 100.0 16.1 39.4 16.8 27.7
2018 100.0 15.2 38.4 16.5 29.9
2019 100.0 13.8 38.4 16.3 31.6
2020 100.0 13.4 38.1 16.8 31.7
2021 100.0 12.8 37.8 15.5 33.8
2022 100.0 12.0 37.2 16.1 34.7
2023 100.0 12.0 35.8 17.0 35.3

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 5 - Historical table of currently employed persons by employment status (percentage) - Both sexes

Employee Own Unpaid

Total
Year Employer account family
employed Total Public Private worker worker

2016 100.0 57.8 14.6 43.3 2.7 31.6 7.8

2017 100.0 57.7 14.4 43.3 3.0 31.3 8.0
2018 100.0 57.8 14.5 43.3 2.8 32.3 7.2
2019 100.0 57.9 14.9 43.0 2.6 32.5 7.0
2020 100.0 57.5 14.8 42.7 2.5 33.2 6.8
2021 100.0 57.3 15.2 42.0 2.7 33.4 6.6
2022 100.0 58.0 15.1 42.9 2.9 33.1 5.9
2023 100.0 59.0 14.6 44.5 2.6 32.8 5.5

Table 5A - Historical table of currently employed persons by employment status (percentage) - Male

Employee Own Unpaid

Total
Year Employer account family
employed Total Public Private worker worker

2016 100.0 58.9 12.4 46.4 3.7 34.7 2.7

2017 100.0 58.8 12.3 46.4 4.1 34.5 2.6
2018 100.0 57.8 12.0 45.8 3.7 36.0 2.5
2019 100.0 57.7 12.2 45.5 3.5 36.5 2.3
2020 100.0 56.7 12.0 44.7 3.4 37.5 2.4
2021 100.0 56.6 12.1 44.4 3.7 37.3 2.4
2022 100.0 57.0 11.9 45.1 3.9 37.2 2.0
2023 100.0 57.6 11.5 46.1 3.5 36.8 2.1

Table 5B - Historical table of currently employed persons by employment status (percentage) - Female

Employee Own Unpaid

Total
Year Employer account family
employed Total Public Private worker worker

2016 100.0 55.9 18.5 37.4 0.9 25.9 17.2

2017 100.0 55.7 18.0 37.7 1.1 25.6 17.7
2018 100.0 57.8 19.3 38.5 1.0 24.9 16.3
2019 100.0 58.3 19.9 38.4 0.8 24.8 16.1
2020 100.0 59.0 20.5 38.5 0.8 24.4 15.8
2021 100.0 58.7 21.5 37.2 0.8 25.4 15.2
2022 100.0 60.0 21.3 38.7 1.0 25.4 13.6
2023 100.0 61.9 20.6 41.2 0.9 25.0 12.2

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 6 - currently employed person by industry group (based on ISIC fourth revision) - Both sexes

Industry group
Year Total
1 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 Other
2019 8,180,693 2,071,940 60,902 1,504,314 693,205 1,134,496 514,469 232,344 64,382 187,933 90,317 205,009 436,175 425,931 169,232 135,247 186,970 67,828
2020 7,999,093 2,169,679 56,856 1,397,689 698,201 1,095,384 523,654 217,281 57,828 183,474 85,990 164,829 447,051 402,808 156,424 123,220 167,255 51,470
2021 8,113,507 2,213,015 54,586 1,362,311 692,585 1,153,516 481,703 214,497 72,881 182,313 80,762 136,073 490,106 423,135 174,539 128,418 201,726 51,342
2022 8,147,731 2,158,559 58,979 1,408,819 690,401 1,142,754 486,346 235,544 71,054 182,379 87,337 146,494 456,844 461,829 169,298 162,099 157,590 71,404
2023 8,009,916 2,088,344 64,606 1,377,686 600,862 1,127,497 504,645 277,739 78,347 176,891 89,946 135,523 438,156 429,311 185,014 209,128 160,913 65,308

Note: These Industry groups are based on ISIC - Rev. 4

1 Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) Other
2 Mining & quarrying (B) 12 Real estate activities (L)
3 Manufacturing (C) 18 Arts, entertainment and recreation (R)
6 Construction, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, water supply, sewerage, waste 21 Activities of extra territorial organizations & bodies (U)
management and remediation activities (D,E,F)
7 Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles(G)
8 Transportation and storage (H)
9 Accommodation and food services activities (I)
10 Information and communication (J)
11 Financial and insurance activities (K)
13 Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)
14 Administrative and support service activities (N)
15 Public administration and defense compulsory social security (O)
16 Education (P)
17 Human health and social work activities (Q)
19 Other service activities (S)
20 Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods and services - producing activities
of households for own use (T)

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 6A- currently employed person by industry group (based on ISIC fourth revision) - Male
Industry group
Year Total
1 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 Other
2019 5,368,896 1,333,249 59,244 784,687 665,725 800,488 497,102 145,858 46,255 105,999 59,418 149,307 278,608 131,014 61,889 93,078 101,972 55,004
2020 5,372,947 1,404,424 54,650 769,527 670,928 800,735 504,586 143,909 43,545 108,800 55,021 119,004 284,605 120,956 58,231 94,149 101,098 38,778
2021 5,414,280 1,423,619 53,512 775,837 663,925 834,545 465,940 136,349 51,631 108,793 49,777 96,394 290,754 127,846 63,616 96,710 134,475 40,557
2022 5,373,965 1,422,010 58,657 758,623 658,525 831,372 466,203 141,812 48,341 100,235 55,248 104,400 271,425 139,674 61,720 123,033 79,292 53,396
2023 5,307,563 1,418,583 62,801 731,875 574,746 823,014 480,265 167,045 60,945 97,742 57,625 92,927 270,067 127,997 59,902 167,068 62,929 52,031

Table 6B - Currently employed person by industry group (based on ISIC fourth revision) - Female
Industry Group
Year Total
1 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 Other
2019 2,811,796 738,692 1,658 719,627 27,479 334,008 17,368 86,486 18,126 81,934 30,899 55,701 157,567 294,916 107,344 42,169 84,998 12,825
2020 2,626,146 765,256 2,206 628,162 27,273 294,649 19,068 73,372 14,282 74,674 30,969 45,826 162,446 281,852 98,193 29,071 66,157 12,692
2021 2,699,228 789,396 1,074 586,474 28,660 318,971 15,763 78,147 21,250 73,519 30,985 39,679 199,352 295,289 110,923 31,708 67,251 10,785
2022 2,773,766 736,549 322 650,196 31,877 311,382 20,144 93,732 22,712 82,144 32,089 42,094 185,419 322,155 107,578 39,066 78,298 18,009
2023 2,702,354 669,761 1,805 645,812 26,116 304,483 24,381 110,694 17,401 79,150 32,321 42,595 168,089 301,314 125,112 42,060 97,984 13,277
These figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
Note: These Industry groups are based on ISIC - Rev. 4
1 Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) Other
2 Mining & quarrying (B) 12 Real estate activities (L)
3 Manufacturing (C) 18 Arts, entertainment and recreation (R)
6 Construction, Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, Water supply, sewerage, waste management 21 Activities of extra territorial organizations & bodies (U)
and remediation activities (D, E,F)
7 Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles(G)
8 Transportation and storage (H)
9 Accommodation and food services activities (I)
10 Information and communication (J)
11 Financial and insurance activities (K)
13 Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)
14 Administrative and support service activities (N)
15 Public administration and defense compulsory social security (O)
16 Education (P)
17 Human health and social work activities (Q)
19 Other service activities (S)
20 Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods and services - producing activities
of households for own use (T)
Other

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 6C - Historical table of currently employed population by major industry group - Both sexes

Major industry Year

group 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Total 8,180,693 7,999,093 8,113,507 8,147,731 8,009,916
Agriculture 2,071,940 2,169,679 2,213,015 2,158,559 2,088,344
Industry 2,258,421 2,152,746 2,109,482 2,158,199 2,043,154
Services 3,850,332 3,676,668 3,791,011 3,830,973 3,878,418

Table 6D - Historical table of currently employed population by major industry group (percentage) - Both
sexes

Major industry Year

group 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Agriculture 25.3 27.1 27.3 26.5 26.1
Industry 27.6 26.9 26.0 26.5 25.5
Services 47.1 46.0 46.7 47.0 48.4

Note: These Industry groups are based on ISIC - Rev. 4

Agriculture
1. Agriculture forestry and fishery (A)
Industries
1. Mining & quarrying (B)
2. Manufacturing (C)
3. Construction, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, water supply, sewerage,
waste management and remediation activities (D, E,F)
Services
1. Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles(G)
2. Transportation and storage (H)
3. Accommodation and food services activities (I)
4. Information and communication (J)
5. Financial and insurance activities (K)
6. Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)
7. Administrative and support service activities (N)
8. Public administration and defense compulsory social security (O)
9. Education (P)
10. Human health and social work activities (Q)
11. Other service activities (S)
12. Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods and services - producing activities of
households for own use (T)
13. Real estate activities (L) Arts, entertainment and recreation ( R) Activities of extra territorial
organizations & bodies (U)

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 7 - Currently employed person by occupation group (Based on ISCO 08) - Both sexes

Occupation group
Year Total
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

2019 8,180,693 622,467 609,084 741,805 308,894 707,967 1,375,540 1,307,767 714,546 1,757,807 34,816

2020 7,999,093 512,087 531,298 695,206 306,448 756,851 1,373,582 1,222,380 729,394 1,833,523 38,325

2021 8,113,507 324,769 576,124 681,988 282,448 947,824 1,308,645 1,142,171 816,954 2,000,483 32,101

2022 8,147,731 340,894 596,432 688,341 296,177 901,590 1,310,662 1,173,642 786,507 2,007,366 46,120

2023 8,009,916 320,025 587,902 690,537 262,986 984,747 1,211,408 1,105,729 759,785 2,056,729 30,068

Occupation group
1 Managers, senior officials and legislators 6 Skilled agriculture forestry and fishery workers

2 Professionals 7 Craft and related trades workers

3 Technicians and associate professionals 8 Plant and machine operators and assemblers

4 Clerks and clerical support workers 9 Elementary occupations

5 Services and sales workers 0 Armed forces occupations & unidentified occupations

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 7A - Currently employed person by occupation group (Based on ISCO 08) - Male

Occupation group
Year Total
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
2019 5,368,896 453,211 228,884 477,666 148,506 494,410 943,543 892,716 619,409 1,080,828 29,724
2020 5,372,947 373,757 191,282 452,640 140,458 540,840 984,507 883,796 617,644 1,154,222 33,801
2021 5,414,280 261,533 211,883 440,246 133,690 639,288 981,016 843,075 644,676 1,228,363 30,511
2022 5,373,965 264,794 215,652 437,218 141,818 606,381 956,970 835,321 622,142 1,252,138 41,531
2023 5,307,563 252,648 226,462 422,132 118,267 673,020 926,474 770,046 599,409 1,290,760 28,345

Table 7B - Currently employed person by occupation group (Based on ISCO 08) - Female

Occupation group
Year Total
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
2019 2,811,796 169,256 380,200 264,139 160,388 213,557 431,997 415,051 95,138 676,978 5,092
2020 2,626,146 138,329 340,016 242,566 165,990 216,011 389,075 338,584 111,750 679,301 4,524
2021 2,699,228 63,236 364,242 241,742 148,758 308,536 327,629 299,096 172,278 772,120 1,590
2022 2,773,766 76,101 380,779 251,123 154,359 295,209 353,692 338,321 164,364 755,227 4,589
2023 2,702,354 67,378 361,440 268,406 144,719 311,727 284,934 335,682 160,376 765,969 1,723

These Figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
Occupation group
1 Managers, senior officials and legislators 6 Skilled agriculture forestry and fishery workers
2 Professionals 7 Craft and related trades workers
3 Technicians and associate professionals 8 Plant and machine operators and assemblers
4 Clerks and clerical support workers 9 Elementary occupations
5 Services and sales workers 0 Armed forces occupations & unidentified occupations

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 8 - Currently employed persons by hours per week actually worked at the main job and major industrial group (percentage) - Both sexes

Major industrial group Total 0* 1-9 10 - 19 20 - 29 30 - 39 40 - 49 50 & Over

Total 100.0 4.2 2.4 5.9 10.3 15.1 34.5 27.6
1 100.0 5.3 4.6 11.0 17.7 20.6 25.4 15.4
2 100.0 4.7 1.5 4.7 5.3 9.6 31.0 43.3
3 100.0 4.1 1.6 5.1 8.7 11.1 38.1 31.4
6 100.0 10.4 2.3 7.2 14.5 14.8 34.0 16.7
7 100.0 2.0 1.3 3.5 6.0 10.2 29.6 47.3
8 100.0 3.3 1.6 3.4 7.3 10.7 33.0 40.7
9 100.0 2.6 1.3 3.8 8.2 13.1 26.9 44.0
10 100.0 0.7 .. 0.7 4.0 4.1 59.5 31.1
11 100.0 0.9 0.2 0.8 2.5 4.8 66.1 24.7
13 100.0 2.4 1.3 3.3 6.5 10.2 58.8 17.5
14 100.0 4.1 2.0 4.6 4.6 6.7 46.5 31.6
15 100.0 1.3 0.3 0.3 0.8 4.0 66.7 26.6
16 100.0 4.9 2.1 4.0 7.8 47.8 27.6 5.7
17 100.0 1.6 0.3 0.8 2.3 6.4 44.4 44.2
19 100.0 5.5 5.8 5.6 11.7 14.4 32.8 24.2
20 100.0 4.1 2.4 6.8 15.0 14.3 28.3 29.1
Other 100.0 3.3 4.5 6.8 11.2 7.2 35.0 32.0
* Has a job but not at work during the reference week .. Net reported
These figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
Industry group
1 Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) 17 Human health and social work activities (Q)
2 Mining & quarrying (B) 19 Other service activities (S)
3 Manufacturing (C) 20 Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods and
6 Construction, Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, Water services - producing activities of households for own use (T)
supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (D, E,F) Other
7 Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles(G)
8 Transportation and storage (H) Other
9 Accommodation and food services activities (I) 12 Real estate activities (L)
10 Information and communication (J) 18 Arts, entertainment and recreation (R)
11 Financial and insurance activities (K) 21 Activities of extra territorial organizations & bodies (U)
13 Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)
14 Administrative and support service activities (N)
15 Public administration and defense compulsory social security (O)
16 Education (P)

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 9 - Historical table of currently unemployed persons by age groups (Percentage) - Both sexes

Age groups
Year Total
15 – 19 Yrs 20 – 24 Yrs 25 – 29 Yrs 30 – 39 Yrs 40 + Yrs
2016 100.0 16.1 39.7 21.1 13.2 9.8
2017 100.0 12.8 37.7 22.2 14.8 12.4
2018 100.0 14.1 38.9 22.5 15.0 9.5
2019 100.0 13.0 36.0 22.8 14.3 13.8
2020 100.0 13.5 39.3 21.5 13.8 12.0
2021 100.0 8.9 42.5 22.2 15.2 11.1
2022 100.0 9.6 37.2 24.4 14.1 14.7
2023 100.0 10.0 35.5 25.3 14.2 15.1

Table 9A - Historical table of currently unemployed persons by age groups (Percentage) - Male

Age groups
Year Total
15 – 19 Yrs 20 – 24 Yrs 25 – 29 Yrs 30 – 39 Yrs 40 + Yrs
2016 100.0 23.0 42.8 16.9 7.7 9.6
2017 100.0 18.1 40.3 19.7 10.8 11.1
2018 100.0 20.5 40.9 17.5 10.7 10.5
2019 100.0 18.3 38.9 19.5 8.3 15.0
2020 100.0 18.8 41.0 18.6 11.9 9.7
2021 100.0 12.3 45.0 20.0 12.1 10.6
2022 100.0 12.9 38.9 21.2 12.1 14.8
2023 100.0 13.8 36.6 21.5 12.2 15.8

Table 9B - Historical table of currently unemployed persons by age groups (Percentage) - Female

Age groups
Year Total
15 – 19 Yrs 20 – 24 Yrs 25 – 29 Yrs 30 – 39 Yrs 40 + Yrs
2016 100.0 11.1 37.5 24.2 17.2 10.0
2017 100.0 8.8 35.7 24.2 17.9 13.5
2018 100.0 9.1 37.3 26.5 18.4 8.7
2019 100.0 8.7 33.6 25.5 19.3 12.9
2020 100.0 8.5 37.7 24.1 15.6 14.1
2021 100.0 5.8 40.3 24.2 18.0 11.6
2022 100.0 6.1 35.2 27.7 16.3 14.6
2023 100.0 6.2 34.4 28.9 16.0 14.4

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Table 10 - Historical table of currently unemployed persons by level of education (Percentage) - Both sexes

Level of education
Year Total Grade 5 & Grades GCE(O/L) GCE(A/L)
below 6 - 10 NCGE HNCE & Above
2016 100.0 2.7 35.4 22.1 39.8
2017 100.0 3.1 30.3 24.7 41.9
2018 100.0 2.2 30.5 21.4 45.8
2019 100.0 2.9 31.4 23.9 41.9
2020 100.0 2.2 32.6 23.5 41.7
2021 100.0 1.4 29.6 24.9 44.1
2022 100.0 1.8 32.1 23.6 42.6
2023 100.0 1.8 31.1 23.6 43.6

Table 10A - Historical table of currently unemployed persons by level of education (Percentage) - Male

Level of education
Year Grade 5 & Grades GCE(O/L) GCE(A/L)
Total
Below 6 - 10 NCGE HNCE & Above

2016 100.0 1.5 48.2 23.9 26.4

2017 100.0 2.0 37.5 30.0 30.5
2018 100.0 3.1 43.1 25.0 28.9
2019 100.0 2.9 42.2 27.0 28.0
2020 100.0 2.3 41.5 27.7 28.5
2021 100.0 1.8 36.0 29.9 32.3
2022 100.0 2.2 40.1 28.0 29.6
2023 100.0 2.3 39.3 25.1 33.4

Table 10 B - Historical table of currently unemployed persons by level of education (Percentage) - Female

Level of education
Year Total GRADE 5 & GRADES GCE(O/L) GCE(A/L)
Below 6 - 10 NCGE HNCE & ABOVE
2016 100.0 3.6 26.0 20.8 49.6
2017 100.0 3.9 24.8 20.7 50.7
2018 100.0 1.5 20.6 18.7 59.2
2019 100.0 2.9 22.5 21.4 53.3
2020 100.0 2.2 24.2 19.7 53.9
2021 100.0 1.0 23.9 20.5 54.6
2022 100.0 1.3 23.5 18.8 56.4
2023 100.0 1.4 23.1 22.1 53.4
These figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 11 - Currently unemployed persons by sex and duration of

unemployment

Duration

Sex Total 6 to
Less than
less than 12+ months
6 months
12 months

Both
398,415 167,551 100,531 130,332
sexes
% 100.0 42.1 25.2 32.7
Male 196,032 90,614 51,002 54,416
% 100.0 46.2 26.0 27.8
Female 202,382 76,937 49,529 75,916
% 100.0 38.0 24.5 37.5

Table 12 - Labour force status (Current) of the household population, 15 years of age and over by district -
Both sexes

Labour force
Employed Unemployed
Household Not in
population labour Rate Rate labour
District Total
(15 years & force (% to (% to force
labour
over) partici: Number total Number total Number
force
rate(%) labour labour
force) force)
Total 17,306,492 8,408,331 48.6 8,009,916 95.3 398,415 4.7 8,898,161
Colombo 1,978,084 975,831 49.3 940,063 96.3 35,767 3.7 1,002,253
Gampaha 1,950,025 915,591 47.0 879,295 96.0 36,296 4.0 1,034,434
Kalutara 1,038,932 513,708 49.4 481,464 93.7 32,245 6.3 525,224
Kandy 1,168,770 571,022 48.9 528,991 92.6 42,032 7.4 597,748
Matale 401,920 195,605 48.7 188,737 96.5 6,868 3.5 206,315
Nuwara Eliya 592,102 311,925 52.7 302,996 97.1 8,929 2.9 280,178
Galle 899,512 443,920 49.4 416,179 93.8 27,741 6.2 455,592
Matara 702,466 301,441 42.9 282,992 93.9 18,449 6.1 401,025
Hambantota 533,463 267,699 50.2 248,255 92.7 19,443 7.3 265,765
Jaffna 510,634 206,384 40.4 198,113 96.0 8,271 4.0 304,249
Mannar 93,268 48,979 52.5 47,928 97.9 1,051 2.1 44,289
Vavunia 147,437 78,849 53.5 76,499 97.0 2,350 3.0 68,588
Mullativu 79,782 36,468 45.7 35,656 97.8 812 2.2 43,314
Kilinochchci 99,780 42,602 42.7 40,944 96.1 1,658 3.9 57,178
Batticaloa 430,614 180,131 41.8 169,176 93.9 10,955 6.1 250,483
Ampara 564,506 208,741 37.0 202,193 96.9 6,548 3.1 355,764
Trincomalee 321,633 133,883 41.6 130,518 97.5 3,365 2.5 187,750
Kurunegala 1,325,493 681,332 51.4 658,044 96.6 23,288 3.4 644,162
Puttalam 657,714 349,694 53.2 337,413 96.5 12,281 3.5 308,020
Anuradhapura 715,550 367,851 51.4 348,783 94.8 19,068 5.2 347,699
Polonnaruwa 341,524 157,101 46.0 150,968 96.1 6,132 3.9 184,423
Badulla 704,967 364,468 51.7 335,411 92.0 29,057 8.0 340,500
Moneragala 376,432 200,294 53.2 192,263 96.0 8,031 4.0 176,138
Ratnapura 953,905 508,294 53.3 488,574 96.1 19,720 3.9 445,611
Kegalle 717,979 346,518 48.3 328,461 94.8 18,058 5.2 371,461
These figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are
high.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 12A - Labour force status (current) of the household population, 15 years of age and over by district -
Male

Labour force
Employed Unemployed
Household Not in
population labour Rate Rate labour
District Total
(15 years & force (% to (% to force
labour
over) partici: Number total Number total Number
force
rate(%) labour labour
force) force)
Total 8,024,760 5,503,595 68.6 5,307,563 96.4 196,032 3.6 2,521,164
Colombo 929,298 626,440 67.4 610,706 97.5 15,734 2.5 302,858
Gampaha 919,176 613,129 66.7 594,590 97.0 18,539 3.0 306,047
Kalutara 490,199 328,498 67.0 312,512 95.1 15,985 4.9 161,701
Kandy 527,506 360,419 68.3 338,884 94.0 21,535 6.0 167,087
Matale 180,272 124,032 68.8 121,422 97.9 2,611 2.1 56,240
Nuwara Eliya 271,324 187,554 69.1 183,049 97.6 4,505 2.4 83,769
Galle 420,250 284,088 67.6 271,724 95.6 12,364 4.4 136,162
Matara 322,847 209,630 64.9 199,615 95.2 10,015 4.8 113,217
Hambantota 246,714 176,184 71.4 169,137 96.0 7,047 4.0 70,531
Jaffna 228,269 148,352 65.0 144,388 97.3 3,964 2.7 79,917
Mannar 45,822 34,326 74.9 34,094 99.3 232 0.7 11,496
Vavunia 66,455 49,404 74.3 48,184 97.5 1,220 2.5 17,051
Mullativu 37,516 25,705 68.5 25,151 97.8 554 2.2 11,811
Kilinochchi 45,594 30,767 67.5 29,981 97.4 785 2.6 14,828
Batticaloa 190,635 128,457 67.4 124,805 97.2 3,652 2.8 62,178
Ampara 269,527 162,538 60.3 159,237 98.0 3,301 2.0 106,988
Trincomalee 153,650 100,171 65.2 98,387 98.2 1,784 1.8 53,479
Kurunegala 607,315 428,325 70.5 416,479 97.2 11,846 2.8 178,991
Puttalam 303,944 233,804 76.9 226,170 96.7 7,635 3.3 70,140
Anuradhapura 324,211 237,174 73.2 228,628 96.4 8,546 3.6 87,037
Polonnaruwa 161,912 115,085 71.1 111,843 97.2 3,242 2.8 46,827
Badulla 325,042 222,619 68.5 205,848 92.5 16,771 7.5 102,422
Moneragala 174,608 136,663 78.3 133,507 97.7 3,156 2.3 37,946
Ratnapura 455,733 331,177 72.7 320,631 96.8 10,546 3.2 124,555
Kegalle 326,941 209,054 63.9 198,590 95.0 10,465 5.0 117,887

These figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 12B - labour force status (current) of the household population, 15 years of age and over by district –
Female

Labour force
Employed Unemployed
Household Not in
population labour Rate Rate labour
District Total
(15 years & force (% to (% to force
labour
over) partici: Number total Number total Number
force
rate(%) labour labour
force) force)

Total 9,281,733 2,904,736 31.3 2,702,354 93.0 202,382 7.0 6,376,997

Colombo 1,048,786 349,390 33.3 329,357 94.3 20,033 5.7 699,395

Gampaha 1,030,848 302,462 29.3 284,705 94.1 17,756 5.9 728,387
Kalutara 548,734 185,211 33.8 168,951 91.2 16,260 8.8 363,523
Kandy 641,264 210,603 32.8 190,106 90.3 20,497 9.7 430,661
Matale 221,648 71,573 32.3 67,316 94.1 4,257 5.9 150,075
Nuwara Eliya 320,779 124,370 38.8 119,947 96.4 4,424 3.6 196,408
Galle 479,263 159,832 33.3 144,455 90.4 15,377 9.6 319,430
Matara 379,619 91,811 24.2 83,376 90.8 8,434 9.2 287,808
Hambantota 286,749 91,515 31.9 79,118 86.5 12,397 13.5 195,234
Jaffna 282,364 58,032 20.6 53,725 92.6 4,307 7.4 224,332
Mannar 47,446 14,653 30.9 13,834 94.4 819 5.6 32,793
Vavunia 80,982 29,445 36.4 28,315 96.2 1,130 3.8 51,537
Mullativu 42,266 10,763 25.5 10,505 97.6 258 2.4 31,503
Kilinochchi 54,185 11,835 21.8 10,962 92.6 873 7.4 42,350
Batticaloa 239,979 51,674 21.5 44,371 85.9 7,303 14.1 188,305
Ampara 294,979 46,203 15.7 42,956 93.0 3,247 7.0 248,776
Trincomalee 167,984 33,712 20.1 32,131 95.3 1,581 4.7 134,271
Kurunegala 718,178 253,007 35.2 241,565 95.5 11,442 4.5 465,171
Puttalam 353,770 115,890 32.8 111,244 96.0 4,646 4.0 237,880
Anuradhapura 391,339 130,677 33.4 120,155 91.9 10,522 8.1 260,662
Polonnaruwa 179,612 42,016 23.4 39,126 93.1 2,890 6.9 137,596
Badulla 379,926 141,848 37.3 129,562 91.3 12,286 8.7 238,077
Moneragala 201,824 63,631 31.5 58,756 92.3 4,875 7.7 138,192
Ratnapura 498,172 177,116 35.6 167,943 94.8 9,174 5.2 321,056
Kegalle 391,038 137,464 35.2 129,871 94.5 7,593 5.5 253,574
These figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 13 - Employment by major industry group by districts - Both sexes

Total Agriculture Industry Services

District
No % No % No % No %
Total 8,009,916 100.0 2,088,344 26.1 2,043,154 25.5 3,878,418 48.4
Colombo 940,063 100.0 18,687 2.0 250,460 26.6 670,917 71.4
Gampaha 879,295 100.0 37,476 4.3 306,350 34.8 535,470 60.9
Kalutara 481,464 100.0 66,240 13.8 162,747 33.8 252,477 52.4
Kandy 528,991 100.0 106,382 20.1 139,342 26.3 283,267 53.5
Matale 188,737 100.0 39,807 21.1 45,296 24.0 103,634 54.9
Nuwara Eliya 302,996 100.0 176,019 58.1 39,360 13.0 87,618 28.9
Galle 416,179 100.0 108,589 26.1 106,351 25.6 201,239 48.4
Matara 282,992 100.0 93,734 33.1 66,702 23.6 122,556 43.3
Hambantota 248,255 100.0 95,495 38.5 50,052 20.2 102,708 41.4
Jaffna 198,113 100.0 42,786 21.6 39,229 19.8 116,098 58.6
Mannar 47,928 100.0 25,412 53.0 5,857 12.2 16,659 34.8
Vavuniya 76,499 100.0 24,953 32.6 18,643 24.4 32,903 43.0
Mullaitivu 35,656 100.0 16,232 45.5 6,647 18.6 12,778 35.8
Kilinochchi 40,944 100.0 13,788 33.7 11,058 27.0 16,098 39.3
Batticaloa 169,176 100.0 51,860 30.7 39,961 23.6 77,355 45.7
Ampara 202,193 100.0 63,904 31.6 44,961 22.2 93,328 46.2
Trincomalee 130,518 100.0 42,197 32.3 28,106 21.5 60,215 46.1
Kurunegala 658,044 100.0 184,631 28.1 186,344 28.3 287,069 43.6
Puttalam 337,413 100.0 90,840 26.9 92,486 27.4 154,088 45.7
Anuradhapura 348,783 100.0 169,890 48.7 54,255 15.6 124,638 35.7
Polonnaruwa 150,968 100.0 68,177 45.2 26,785 17.7 56,007 37.1
Badulla 335,411 100.0 175,321 52.3 42,230 12.6 117,860 35.1
Monaragala 192,263 100.0 102,735 53.4 28,409 14.8 61,118 31.8
Rathnapura 488,574 100.0 203,072 41.6 142,801 29.2 142,701 29.2
Kegalle 328,461 100.0 70,117 21.3 108,725 33.1 149,618 45.6

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 13A - Employment by major industry group by districts – Male

Total Agriculture Industry Services

District
No % No % No % No %
Total 5,307,563 100.0 1,418,583 26.7 1,369,422 25.8 2,519,558 47.5
Colombo 610,706 100.0 13,731 2.2 171,600 28.1 425,374 69.7
Gampaha 594,590 100.0 28,559 4.8 196,153 33.0 369,877 62.2
Kalutara 312,512 100.0 38,560 12.3 108,614 34.8 165,338 52.9
Kandy 338,884 100.0 59,484 17.6 86,641 25.6 192,759 56.9
Matale 121,422 100.0 24,358 20.1 28,671 23.6 68,393 56.3
Nuwara Eliya 183,049 100.0 97,949 53.5 29,307 16.0 55,794 30.5
Galle 271,724 100.0 69,831 25.7 73,850 27.2 128,043 47.1
Matara 199,615 100.0 72,506 36.3 46,027 23.1 81,082 40.6
Hambantota 169,137 100.0 77,614 45.9 29,819 17.6 61,704 36.5
Jaffna 144,388 100.0 34,708 24.0 35,245 24.4 74,435 51.6
Mannar 34,094 100.0 20,114 59.0 3,698 10.8 10,281 30.2
Vavuniya 48,184 100.0 13,461 27.9 13,306 27.6 21,416 44.4
Mullaitivu 25,151 100.0 13,248 52.7 5,067 20.1 6,836 27.2
Kilinochchi 29,981 100.0 12,675 42.3 7,292 24.3 10,015 33.4
Batticaloa 124,805 100.0 44,958 36.0 29,551 23.7 50,297 40.3
Ampara 159,237 100.0 59,869 37.6 35,069 22.0 64,300 40.4
Trincomalee 98,387 100.0 37,810 38.4 21,689 22.0 38,888 39.5
Kurunegala 416,479 100.0 116,664 28.0 118,074 28.4 181,741 43.6
Puttalam 226,170 100.0 64,349 28.5 59,657 26.4 102,163 45.2
Anuradhapura 228,628 100.0 114,630 50.1 36,330 15.9 77,669 34.0
Polonnaruwa 111,843 100.0 57,192 51.1 16,926 15.1 37,724 33.7
Badulla 205,848 100.0 103,984 50.5 29,998 14.6 71,866 34.9
Monaragala 133,507 100.0 75,280 56.4 20,880 15.6 37,346 28.0
Rathnapura 320,631 100.0 128,020 39.9 106,077 33.1 86,534 27.0
Kegalle 198,590 100.0 39,027 19.7 59,880 30.2 99,682 50.2

Table 13B - Employment by major industry group by districts - Female

Total Agriculture Industry Services
District
No % No % No % No %
Total 2,702,354 100.0 669,761 24.8 673,732 24.9 1,358,860 50.3
Colombo 329,357 100.0 4,956 1.5 78,859 23.9 245,542 74.6
Gampaha 284,705 100.0 8,917 3.1 110,196 38.7 165,592 58.2
Kalutara 168,951 100.0 27,680 16.4 54,133 32.0 87,139 51.6
Kandy 190,106 100.0 46,898 24.7 52,701 27.7 90,508 47.6
Matale 67,316 100.0 15,449 23.0 16,625 24.7 35,241 52.4
Nuwara Eliya 119,947 100.0 78,070 65.1 10,054 8.4 31,823 26.5
Galle 144,455 100.0 38,758 26.8 32,502 22.5 73,196 50.7
Matara 83,376 100.0 21,227 25.5 20,675 24.8 41,474 49.7
Hambantota 79,118 100.0 17,881 22.6 20,233 25.6 41,004 51.8
Jaffna 53,725 100.0 8,078 15.0 3,984 7.4 41,664 77.5
Mannar 13,834 100.0 5,298 38.3 2,158 15.6 6,378 46.1
Vavuniya 28,315 100.0 11,492 40.6 5,337 18.8 11,486 40.6
Mullaitivu 10,505 100.0 2,983 28.4 1,579 15.0 5,942 56.6
Kilinochchi 10,962 100.0 1,114 10.2 3,766 34.4 6,083 55.5
Batticaloa 44,371 100.0 6,902 15.6 10,410 23.5 27,059 61.0
Ampara 42,956 100.0 4,035 9.4 9,892 23.0 29,028 67.6
Trincomalee 32,131 100.0 4,387 13.7 6,417 20.0 21,327 66.4
Kurunegala 241,565 100.0 67,967 28.1 68,270 28.3 105,328 43.6
Puttalam 111,244 100.0 26,490 23.8 32,829 29.5 51,925 46.7
Anuradhapura 120,155 100.0 55,261 46.0 17,925 14.9 46,969 39.1
Polonnaruwa 39,126 100.0 10,984 28.1 9,859 25.2 18,283 46.7
Badulla 129,562 100.0 71,337 55.1 12,232 9.4 45,994 35.5
Monaragala 58,756 100.0 27,455 46.7 7,529 12.8 23,772 40.5
Rathnapura 167,943 100.0 75,052 44.7 36,724 21.9 56,167 33.4
Kegalle 129,871 100.0 31,090 23.9 48,845 37.6 49,936 38.5
These figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 14 - Currently employed person by occupation group (Based on ISCO 08) by province - Both sexes

Occupation group
Province Total
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Total 8,009,916 320,025 587,902 690,537 262,986 984,747 1,211,408 1,105,729 759,785 2,056,729 30,068
Western 2,300,822 162,277 238,738 278,830 134,868 304,132 85,934 359,194 308,707 415,520 12,622
Central 1,020,724 27,754 70,351 72,188 24,963 130,888 128,050 123,162 90,520 350,106 2,743
Southern 947,426 27,243 67,708 76,208 23,885 114,992 182,095 133,758 79,738 238,654 3,146
Northern 399,140 13,383 36,049 38,934 8,995 49,810 77,455 52,398 21,527 100,232 357
Eastern 501,888 13,148 40,945 38,393 12,892 63,263 84,793 75,696 25,747 145,986 1,024
North Western 995,457 36,309 42,849 60,504 22,941 120,448 174,601 168,437 107,050 257,361 4,956
North Central 499,751 11,587 26,137 36,983 11,085 58,470 170,569 42,844 21,835 117,607 2,635
Uva 527,673 7,111 28,615 23,934 6,435 65,147 174,927 40,100 26,847 153,343 1,214
Sabaragamuwa 817,034 21,212 36,510 64,563 16,922 77,597 132,984 110,140 77,814 277,921 1,372
These figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.
Occupation group
1 Managers, senior officials and legislators 6 Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers
2 Professionals 7 Craft and related trades workers
3 Technicians and associate Professionals 8 Plant and machine operators and assemblers
4 Clerks and clerical support workers 9 Elementary occupations
5 Services and sales workers 0 Armed forces occupations & unidentified occupations

Note: It is to be noted here that these occupation groups are based on ISCO - 08

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 15 - Currently employed person by industry group (Based on ISIC fourth revision) by province - Both sexes
Industry group
Province Total
1 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 other

Total 8,009,916 2,088,344 64,606 1,377,686 600,862 1,127,497 504,645 277,739 78,347 176,891 89,946 135,523 438,156 429,311 185,014 209,128 160,913 65,308

Western 2,300,822 122,403 5,290 544,928 169,339 389,188 216,795 98,025 54,349 85,432 49,233 59,807 120,594 132,171 61,657 107,717 58,693 25,204

Central 1,020,724 322,207 2,533 144,844 76,622 141,740 63,929 31,841 2,155 15,297 9,380 10,553 49,499 56,722 23,608 19,889 40,211 9,696

Southern 947,426 297,817 1,881 150,197 71,027 120,129 48,726 37,339 6,534 20,586 8,962 17,162 55,736 48,237 24,182 21,879 8,768 8,264

Northern 399,140 123,171 286 35,100 46,047 49,530 20,676 8,937 2,849 8,637 3,663 7,025 32,650 27,958 11,124 10,089 9,075 2,323

Eastern 501,888 157,962 3,628 58,405 50,995 68,718 21,367 15,324 491 8,929 1,719 6,585 40,199 42,206 13,893 5,466 3,792 2,208

North Western 995,457 275,471 3,186 194,177 81,466 161,951 58,805 33,557 5,254 13,120 7,333 12,335 50,767 42,978 12,971 18,233 19,011 4,841

North Central 499,751 238,067 1,514 50,245 29,280 51,581 9,481 12,510 1,851 6,549 5,450 8,720 32,708 25,872 8,925 8,499 3,033 5,468

Uva 527,673 278,057 1,956 44,106 24,577 54,095 20,320 17,951 947 8,281 1,107 2,721 21,450 24,669 11,641 6,140 5,898 3,758

Sabaragamuwa 817,034 273,189 44,330 155,685 51,510 90,565 44,546 22,256 3,917 10,061 3,099 10,615 34,552 28,499 17,014 11,216 12,433 3,546
These Figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.

Industry group
1 Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) 17 Human health and social work activities (Q)
2 Mining & quarrying (B) 19 Other service activities (S)
3 Manufacturing (C) 20 Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods and
6 Construction, Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, Water services - producing activities of households for own use (T)
supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (D,E,F) Other
7 Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles(G)
8 Transportation and storage (H) Other
9 Accommodation and food services activities (I) 12 Real estate activities (L)
10 Information and communication (J) 18 Arts, entertainment and recreation (R)
11 Financial and insurance activities (K) 21 Activities of extra territorial organizations & bodies (U)
13 Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)
14 Administrative and support service activities (N)
15 Public administration and defense compulsory social security (O)
16 Education (P)
Note: These Industry groups are based on ISIC - Rev. 4

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 16 - Currently employed person by employment status by province - Both sexes

Employee Own Unpaid

Province Total Employer Account Family
Total Public Private Worker Worker

Total 8,009,916 4,729,711 1,168,055 3,561,656 208,462 2,627,644 444,100

Western 2,300,822 1,562,421 323,269 1,239,152 85,815 587,150 65,436
Central 1,020,724 619,145 155,256 463,889 25,252 309,707 66,620
Southern 947,426 543,556 147,715 395,841 24,080 325,254 54,535
Northern 399,140 242,739 76,772 165,967 15,059 129,139 12,203
Eastern 501,888 328,228 103,910 224,318 9,561 150,910 13,189
North Western 995,457 515,454 114,897 400,558 27,096 375,414 77,493
North Central 499,751 213,468 82,146 131,322 6,204 231,765 48,314
Uva 527,673 226,815 71,559 155,255 3,239 240,228 57,391
Sabaragamuwa 817,034 477,884 92,530 385,354 12,154 278,077 48,919

Table 16A - Currently employed person by employment status by province – Male

Employee Own Unpaid

Province Total Employer Account Family
Total Public Private Worker Worker

Total 5,307,563 3,058,013 610,073 2,447,940 183,890 1,952,496 113,164

Western 1,517,809 1,000,636 172,608 828,028 75,131 419,623 22,419
Central 643,355 365,409 76,582 288,828 21,439 238,270 18,237
Southern 640,476 356,600 71,467 285,133 21,092 251,304 11,481
Northern 281,799 164,807 36,749 128,057 14,709 95,749 6,534
Eastern 382,430 254,147 59,858 194,289 9,049 114,121 5,113
North Western 642,648 331,933 60,552 271,381 23,563 268,639 18,513
North Central 340,471 145,137 49,491 95,646 5,663 178,593 11,077
Uva 339,355 138,931 37,736 101,195 3,049 186,035 11,341
Sabaragamuwa 519,221 300,413 45,029 255,384 10,194 200,164 8,451

Table 16B - Currently employed person by employment status by province -Female

Employee Own Unpaid

Province Total Employer Account Family
Total Public Private Worker Worker

Total 2,702,354 1,671,698 557,982 1,113,716 24,572 675,148 330,935

Western 783,014 561,785 150,661 411,124 10,684 167,528 43,017
Central 377,369 253,736 78,674 175,062 3,813 71,437 48,384
Southern 306,950 186,956 76,248 110,708 2,989 73,951 43,054
Northern 117,342 77,933 40,023 37,910 350 33,390 5,669
Eastern 119,458 74,081 44,052 30,028 512 36,789 8,076
North Western 352,809 183,521 54,344 129,177 3,533 106,775 58,979
North Central 159,281 68,331 32,655 35,676 540 53,172 37,237
Uva 188,318 87,884 33,823 54,061 191 54,193 46,050
Sabaragamuwa 297,814 177,472 47,501 129,970 1,960 77,914 40,468

These Figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high.

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Table 17 - Currently employed persons by hours per week actually worked at the main job by district - Both
sexes

District Total 0* 1-9 10 - 19 20 - 29 30 - 39 40 - 49 50 & over

Total 100.0 4.2 2.4 5.9 10.3 15.1 34.5 27.6

Colombo 100.0 3.2 2.1 3.9 7.0 11.9 43.5 28.5
Gampaha 100.0 2.9 1.2 2.5 7.2 10.1 37.5 38.5
Kalutara 100.0 3.8 2.7 8.0 8.0 13.0 38.3 26.3
Kandy 100.0 4.8 1.0 4.2 10.2 15.8 30.9 33.2
Matale 100.0 8.4 3.3 7.5 10.9 15.1 28.1 26.8
Nuwara Eliya 100.0 1.1 1.0 1.8 10.1 16.6 46.9 22.4
Galle 100.0 7.3 4.8 9.8 11.7 12.0 27.3 27.0
Matara 100.0 6.6 2.7 7.9 12.3 19.0 29.0 22.5
Hambantota 100.0 3.1 2.2 7.3 18.5 17.9 31.0 20.1
Jaffna 100.0 1.5 2.7 4.4 7.6 18.3 39.8 25.8
Mannar 100.0 4.1 2.0 9.1 14.0 24.6 32.3 13.9
Vavuniya 100.0 5.1 1.1 14.3 19.3 13.3 29.0 18.1
Mullaitivu 100.0 5.2 1.0 4.4 13.6 31.0 37.4 7.4
Kilinochchi 100.0 4.1 0.3 0.8 3.6 25.4 47.7 18.2
Batticaloa 100.0 1.1 0.5 2.7 7.1 15.2 38.8 34.5
Ampara 100.0 1.2 0.6 4.6 7.4 17.1 45.7 23.4
Trincomalee 100.0 2.0 1.6 5.2 11.5 23.4 35.4 20.8
Kurunegala 100.0 5.9 4.5 9.7 14.1 13.5 31.2 21.0
Puttalam 100.0 6.9 2.6 7.3 10.7 14.3 32.7 25.5
Anuradhapura 100.0 6.6 2.6 5.4 8.2 18.6 27.5 31.0
Polonnaruwa 100.0 7.1 8.4 10.7 10.3 10.8 20.1 32.6
Badulla 100.0 4.6 2.9 5.4 13.9 21.3 30.4 21.5
Monaragala 100.0 3.7 2.9 4.2 9.5 14.1 33.0 32.6
Rathnapura 100.0 3.8 2.6 8.5 15.0 16.9 27.0 26.2
Kegalle 100.0 2.6 0.5 4.4 8.1 18.9 35.0 30.6
0* Has a job but not at work during the reference week
These Figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 17A - Currently employed persons by hours per week actually worked at the main job by district –
Male
District Total 0* 1-9 10 - 19 20 - 29 30 - 39 40 – 49 50 & over
Total 100.0 4.5 2.0 5.2 9.4 13.3 34.1 31.6
Colombo 100.0 3.4 1.8 3.4 6.3 10.3 42.7 32.0
Gampaha 100.0 2.9 1.0 2.0 7.0 8.0 36.8 42.3
Kalutara 100.0 4.4 2.2 7.4 8.1 10.7 36.3 31.1
Kandy 100.0 5.0 0.7 3.7 9.8 13.5 29.2 38.1
Matale 100.0 7.8 3.9 6.5 11.6 13.2 26.1 30.9
Nuwara Eliya 100.0 1.5 0.5 1.4 7.7 14.6 48.3 25.9
Galle 100.0 8.1 3.5 9.1 10.3 10.9 26.7 31.4
Matara 100.0 7.4 2.5 8.1 11.4 17.8 27.7 25.2
Hambantota 100.0 3.8 2.2 7.2 17.5 18.3 28.5 22.5
Jaffna 100.0 1.5 2.3 3.8 7.5 15.4 40.2 29.4
Mannar 100.0 4.3 1.5 8.6 14.9 21.2 34.2 15.3
Vavuniya 100.0 5.5 1.2 8.9 18.9 13.9 30.4 21.2
Mullaitivu 100.0 6.5 1.2 1.7 10.6 35.7 36.2 8.2
Kilinochchi 100.0 4.5 0.4 0.6 3.6 25.3 46.6 18.9
Batticaloa 100.0 1.1 0.4 1.8 6.2 9.9 38.3 42.3
Ampara 100.0 1.4 0.5 4.6 6.2 13.6 48.9 24.8
Trincomalee 100.0 2.3 1.4 3.9 11.2 25.7 34.6 20.9
Kurunegala 100.0 5.8 3.8 8.6 12.7 12.7 30.7 25.7
Puttalam 100.0 6.5 2.0 6.6 10.0 11.7 34.2 29.0
Anuradhapura 100.0 6.4 2.0 4.6 7.9 15.0 29.0 35.1
Polonnaruwa 100.0 8.3 9.3 11.0 9.1 8.9 18.7 34.7
Badulla 100.0 5.2 2.2 5.9 11.4 19.0 30.3 26.1
Monaragala 100.0 3.5 2.2 3.3 8.4 12.3 33.6 36.7
Rathnapura 100.0 4.3 2.0 6.1 12.9 16.0 28.0 30.8
Kegalle 100.0 3.0 0.3 3.9 6.1 16.2 33.9 36.6

Table 17B - Currently employed persons by hours per week actually worked at the main job by district -
Female
District Total 0* 1-9 10 - 19 20 - 29 30 - 39 40 – 49 50 & over
Total 100.0 3.8 3.1 7.2 12.1 18.6 35.2 19.8
Colombo 100.0 2.8 2.6 4.8 8.3 14.8 44.9 21.9
Gampaha 100.0 3.0 1.8 3.4 7.6 14.6 39.2 30.5
Kalutara 100.0 2.7 3.7 9.0 7.9 17.3 41.9 17.5
Kandy 100.0 4.4 1.5 5.0 10.8 19.9 34.0 24.4
Matale 100.0 9.4 2.1 9.3 9.8 18.5 31.6 19.4
Nuwara Eliya 100.0 0.5 1.8 2.4 13.7 19.7 44.8 17.1
Galle 100.0 5.8 7.1 11.2 14.4 14.3 28.5 18.8
Matara 100.0 4.5 3.2 7.4 14.5 22.0 32.3 16.2
Hambantota 100.0 1.6 2.1 7.4 20.8 16.9 36.3 14.9
Jaffna 100.0 1.4 3.5 6.3 7.8 26.0 39.0 16.1
Mannar 100.0 3.5 3.2 10.1 11.7 33.0 27.7 10.6
Vavunia 100.0 4.3 0.8 23.3 19.9 12.3 26.5 12.7
Mullativu 100.0 2.3 0.6 10.7 20.8 19.9 40.3 5.3
Kilinochcchi 100.0 3.0 0.0 1.2 3.5 25.5 50.5 16.3
Batticaloa 100.0 1.0 1.0 5.3 9.7 30.2 40.3 12.6
Ampara 100.0 0.6 0.7 4.9 11.7 30.0 33.6 18.4
Trincomalee 100.0 0.8 2.4 9.1 12.6 16.5 37.9 20.7
Kurunegala 100.0 6.1 5.7 11.8 16.4 14.9 32.2 12.9
Puttalam 100.0 7.8 3.9 8.5 12.1 19.6 29.6 18.5
Anuradhapura 100.0 7.0 3.7 6.9 8.8 25.5 24.7 23.4
Polonnaruwa 100.0 3.8 5.8 9.7 13.5 16.3 24.2 26.7
Badulla 100.0 3.7 4.1 4.7 17.8 25.0 30.6 14.1
Moneragala 100.0 4.0 4.5 6.3 11.9 18.2 31.8 23.3
Ratnapura 100.0 2.8 3.9 13.0 19.0 18.8 25.0 17.4
Kegalle 100.0 2.0 0.8 5.2 11.1 22.8 36.8 21.2
0* Has a job but not at work during the reference week
These Figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation) values are high

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Table 18 - Unemployment rate by level of education by province - Both sexes

Level of education

Province Total Grade 5 & Grades GCE (O.L)/ GCE (A.L)/

Below 6 - 10 NCGE HNCE &
above
Total 4.7 0.7 3.4 6.0 8.0
Western 4.3 1.5 3.5 4.8 5.3
Central 5.4 0.6 3.4 9.3 9.5
Southern 6.5 0.4 4.3 6.9 12.8
Northern 3.4 .. 1.8 4.8 7.2
Eastern 4.0 1.1 3.7 6.2 5.6
North Western 3.4 0.7 2.7 4.0 6.2
North Central 4.8 .. 2.6 5.8 13.6
Uva 6.6 1.4 5.2 9.4 13.1
Sabaragamuwa 4.4 0.2 3.0 5.9 9.8

These Figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation)
values are high.
.. Net reported

Table 19 - Unemployment rate by age group by province - Both sexes

Age group
Province Total
15 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 29 30 & over
Total 4.7 29.5 21.6 13.0 1.7
Western 4.3 34.3 16.0 9.9 1.7
Central 5.4 36.5 30.6 11.4 1.9
Southern 6.5 40.1 32.4 20.6 2.2
Northern 3.4 21.2 13.6 9.9 0.6
Eastern 4.0 20.9 15.4 10.1 1.8
North Western 3.4 18.5 16.1 11.9 1.1
North Central 4.8 31.9 27.3 21.1 0.8
Uva 6.6 49.8 31.6 15.6 2.9
Sabaragamuwa 4.4 19.2 22.6 15.0 1.7

These Figures are to be treated with caution as the corresponding CV (Coefficient of variation)
values are high.

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Table 20 - Employment in formal/ informal employment by status in employment - Both sexes

Status of Employment 2020 2021 2022 2023

Total employment 7,999,093 8,113,507 8,147,731 8,009,916
Total informal employment 5,358,900 5,478,420 5,471,252 5,424,906
Informal employees 2,282,800 2,328,383 2,395,916 2,471,850
Informal employees in the informal sector 1,620,010 1,639,716 1,658,348 1,747,585
Informal employees in the formal sector 662,790 688,666 737,568 724,265
Informal entrepreneurs (employers + own account workers) 2,533,302 2,611,440 2,593,262 2,508,957
Contributing family workers 542,798 538,597 482,075 444,100
Contributing family workers in the informal sector 493,168 484,571 427,080 390,653
Contributing family workers in the formal sector 49,630 54,026 54,994 53,446
Total formal employment 2,640,193 2,635,087 2,676,478 2,585,010
Formal employees 2,312,912 2,317,189 2,332,509 2,257,861
Formal employees in the formal sector 2,312,912 2,317,189 2,332,509 2,257,861
Formal employees in the informal sector - - - -
Formal entrepreneurs (employers + own account workers) 327,281 317,898 343,970 327,149
Total employment in non-agricultural sector 5,829,414 5,900,492 5,989,172 5,921,572
Total informal employment 3,375,713 3,446,921 3,498,521 3,495,721
Informal employees 1,789,022 1,814,064 1,817,995 1,875,159
Informal employees in the informal sector 1,174,503 1,186,257 1,152,536 1,219,735
Informal employees in the formal sector 614,519 627,807 665,459 655,424
Informal entrepreneurs (employers + own account workers) 1,406,701 1,437,749 1,486,425 1,432,815
Contributing family workers 179,991 195,108 194,101 187,747
Contributing family workers in the informal sector 134,693 147,273 144,099 139,095
Contributing family workers in the formal sector 45,298 47,835 50,002 48,653
Total formal employment 2,453,701 2,453,572 2,490,651 2,425,851
Formal employees 2,147,032 2,160,276 2,174,032 2,124,616
Formal employees in the formal sector 2,147,032 2,160,276 2,174,032 2,124,616
Formal employees in the informal sector - - - -
Formal entrepreneurs (employers + own account workers) 306,669 293,295 316,619 301,234

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Special Statistical Appendix

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Coverage

Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey was designed to measure the levels and trends of employment, unemployment and
labour force in Sri Lanka. This survey is being conducted quarterly, since the first quarter of 1990.

This survey of households is conducted through a scientifically selected sample designed to represent the civilian
non-institutional population. Respondents are interviewed to obtain information about the employment status etc. of
each member of the household 15 years of age and older.

The field work of the survey is done during the third week of each month, Monday through Sunday. This is known as
the "survey week". The inquiry relates to activity or status are referred in the preceding week of the survey week;
referred as the "reference week/reference period".

The concepts and definitions underlying labour force data are as follows.

Concepts & Definitions

1. Labour force: The labour force is composed of the currently economically active population 15 years of age and
over.

2. The Economically Active Population: is defined as those persons who are/were employed or unemployed
during the reference period of the survey.

3. Employed: Persons, who during the reference period, worked as paid employees, employers, own account
workers, or unpaid family workers are said to be employed. This includes persons with a job but not at work
during the reference period.

a. Paid employees, (those who work for wages/salaries).

b. Employers (entrepreneurs those who have at least one paid employee under them).
c. Own account workers (entrepreneurs those who don’t have any paid employee).
d. Contributing family workers (who make their contribution to the economic activities
carried out by their own household, without wages/salaries).

4 Unemployed: Persons who are seeking and available for work, but had no employment during the reference
period.

5 Currently Economically Active: A person who was employed or unemployed during the current reference (one
week) period is considered to be currently economically active.

6 Not in the Labour Force (not economically active): Persons who were neither working not available/looking
for work are classified as ”not in the labour force”. Persons are not in the labour force for such reasons as; full
time care of the household, full – time students, retired or old age, infirmed or disabled, or are not interested in
working for one reason or another.

7 Criteria for classification of underemployment: In order to classify employed persons as visibly

underemployed,

(i) If the person has worked less than the normal duration in his/her main activity

In Sri Lanka scenario, 35 hours per week is taken as the cut-off point applicable to all workers, except
government teachers. As in practice, though teachers do have a normal duration of work which is below the general

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

cut-off point, they should be on a full time schedule according to the nature of their job. Further, those who do have
a secondary job, or those who are employers, were considered as having worked the normal duration in their
respective activity.

Therefore, if the person has worked less than the normal duration in his/her activity (as described above),
then the person is further questioned to ascertain whether He/She is prepared and available for further work if
provided. Such persons are considered underemployed in their respective employment.

(ii) If the person has worked more than the normal duration in his/her activity

If the person has worked even more than 35 hours as usually, but he has worked less than 35 hours actually
in the reference period, only due to the off season or bad weather, such persons were also further questioned to
check their underemployment situation, considering them as a special category.

Until 2012, only the time spent on main activity was considered to decide cutoff time limit. However,
from 2013 onward this has being changed and time spent on both main and secondary activities were
considered to decide cutoff time limit.

8 Informal Sector Employment

In order to classify a person to be employed in informal sector employment, following information were
used.

(i) Registration of the organization

(ii) Accounts keeping practices of the organization
(iii) Total number of regular employees of the organization

9 NEET
Youths (age 15-24 population) not in employment, education or training.

Youth 15-24

Economically Active Economically Inactive

youth youth

Non-NEET
Employed Unemployed Inactive NEET (Who are in Education
or Training)

Non-NEET
Unemployed NEET (Who are in Education
or Training

Chart 01: Distribution of youth population by various economic conditions

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Reliability of the estimates

Statistics based on the quarterly labour force data are subject to both sampling and non - sampling errors. When a
sample rather than the entire population is surveyed, there is a chance that the sample estimates may differ from the
"true" population values they represent.

The exact differences, or sampling error, varies depending on the particular sample selected, and this variability is
measured by the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 95 percent chance, or level of confidence, that an
estimate based on a sample will differ by no more than 1.96 standard errors from the " true" population value,
because of sampling error. Analyses relating to the Labour Force Survey are generally conducted at the 95 percent
level of confidence.

For example, the confidence interval for the quarterly unemployment rate is on the order of

Estimated value (of the unemployment rate) ± (standard error) * (1.96)

6.4 ± (0.4) * (1.96)

(6.4 ± 0.784)

This means, the 95 percent confidence interval on the quarterly unemployment rate could range from (5.6 to 7.2).
This implies that there is about 95 percent chance that the "true" unemployment rate lies within this interval. This
range includes all the values range from 5.6 to 7.2. When the comparison of this estimate is done between two
quarters, if any of the value within the 95 percent confidence interval of one quarter overlaps with the confidence
interval of the other , it means that the estimates of this two quarters are not significantly different.

Therefore, in each quarterly labour force report, a separate Table is given including approximate standard errors for
some selected variables, so that users could understand this statistical scenario clearly.

Distribution of unemployment rates and 95% confidence intervals (2021Q1 -2023Q4)

Figure3 : Unemployment rates and 95% confidence intervals (2021Q1- 2023Q4)

6.5
Unemployment Rate (%)

6.0
5.7
5.5 5.2
5.1 5.2
5.0 4.6
4.6 5.0 4.7
4.8 4.7
4.5 4.3
4.3
4.0

3.5

3.0
2021 Q1

2021 Q2

2021 Q3

2021 Q4

2022 Q1

2022 Q2

2022 Q3

2022 Q4

2023 Q1

2023 Q2

2023 Q3

2023 Q4

Time Period (2021Q1 - 2023Q4)

Point estimate of unemployment rate 95% Confidence Interval (CI)

As seen in Figure, it is very important to note that, there were no statistically significant differences between the
unemployment rates reported in different time periods of 2021/2023, when sampling error was considered.

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Change in survey schedule

Current survey concepts and methods are very similar to those introduced at the beginning of the survey in 1990.
However, some changes have been made over the years to improve the accuracy and usefulness of the data. In
January 2006, some improvements were made to the labour force survey schedule in order to fulfill the
requirements of data users and also to provide additional information for planning purposes. The revision was made
focusing on literacy, household economic activities, and informal sector employment and under employment etc.

From January , 2013 onwards, the lower bound of working age populations is considered as age 15, hence age 15
and over population is considered as working age population .The survey schedule is updated to obtain more
precise information on following age, informal employment, informal sector, secondary occupation, wages & income
, unemployment & trainings.

New Industry & Occupation classifications

From January 2013 onward the survey uses new industry & occupation classifications, such as

SLIC Rev 4 - Sri Lanka Standard Industry Classification based on International Standard Industry classification - Rev.4
(ISIC Rev 4)

SLSCO 08 - Sri Lanka Standard Classification of Occupation -2008 based on International Standard Classification of
Occupation-2008 (ISCO 2008)

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 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Note :

It is important to note that, all the data published here are the estimates based on a sample survey and these are
subject to sampling errors. These sampling errors can be statistically evaluated from the survey results. Therefore,
sampling error is normally measured in terms of the standard error of the particular variable. Standard error could be
used to calculate the confidence limits with a prescribed accuracy where the true value of the estimates lies.

Further reliability of the estimates can be expressed in terms of Coefficient of Variation (CV). The CV is a relative
measure of the sampling error and is calculated as sampling error divided by the expected value of the given
characteristic.

In view of this, following table is given to show the estimates for some selected variables, it's standard error, CV and
95% Confidence interval.

It is also important to note that all the estimates we publish in this report are subject to sampling error and one should
be cautious in the interpretation of results, especially with respect to the trends over time.

Estimate of Confidence Intervals for some selected characteristics

Labour Force Employed

Year Standard C.V 95% C.I. Standard C.V 95% C.I.
No. No.
error (%) Lower Upper error (%) Lower Upper

2016 8,310,682 66,023 0.79 8,181,215 8,440,148 7,947,683 64,616 0.81 7,820,977 8,074,389
2017 8,566,686 49,822 0.58 8,468,989 8,664,382 8,208,179 48,420 0.59 8,113,231 8,303,126
2018 8,387,759 57,008 0.68 8,275,971 8,499,546 8,015,166 55,036 0.69 7,907,245 8,123,087
2019 8,592,010 54,293 0.63 8,485,546 8,698,475 8,180,693 52,108 0.64 8,078,513 8,282,872
2020 8,466,606 58,917 0.70 8,351,075 8,582,137 7,999,093 56,610 0.71 7,888,086 8,110,101
2021 8,553,290 58,311 0.68 8,438,947 8,667,633 8,113,507 56,072 0.69 8,003,555 8,223,460
2022 8,547,062 58,034 0.68 8,433,262 8,660,862 8,147,731 56,377 0.69 8,037,181 8,258,281
2023 8,408,331 60,811 0.72 8,289,086 8,527,576 8,009,916 58,584 0.73 7,895,039 8,124,794

Unemployed Unemployment Rate

Year
Standard C.V 95% C.I. Standard C.V 95% C.I.
No. Rate
error (%) Lower Upper error (%) Lower Upper

2016 362,999 11,186 3.08 341,064 384,933 4.4 0.1 3.02 4.1 4.6
2017 358,507 11,347 3.17 336,256 380,758 4.2 0.1 3.08 3.9 4.4
2018 372,593 11,350 3.05 350,337 394,849 4.4 0.1 2.94 4.2 4.7
2019 411,318 12,814 3.12 386,191 436,444 4.8 0.1 3.00 4.5 5.1
2020 467,513 14,029 3.00 440,004 495,022 5.5 0.2 2.88 5.2 5.8
2021 439,783 13,930 3.17 412,468 467,097 5.1 0.2 3.05 4.8 5.4
2022 399,332 13,022 3.26 373,797 424,867 4.7 0.1 3.17 4.4 5.0
2023 398,415 13,036 3.27 372,852 423,978 4.7 0.1 3.15 4.4 5.0

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Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Standard error (Page 1)

Standard error and coefficient of variation of selected variables
Estimated Standard Coefficient Estimated Standard Coefficient
Value Error of Variation Value of Variation
(%) (Ratio) Error (%)
General labour force characteristics
Population ( 15 years & over) 17,306,492 87,443 0.51
Employed Population 8,009,916 58,584 0.73
Unemployed Population 398,415 13,036 3.27
Employment Rate 95.3 0.1 0.16
Unemployment Rate 4.7 0.1 3.15
Labour Force 8,408,331 60,811 0.72
Not in Labour Force 8,898,161 60,841 0.68
Employed persons by major industry Groups
1 2,088,344 42,787 2.05
2 64,606 6,948 10.75
3 1,377,686 27,184 1.97
6 600,862 15,863 2.64
7 1,127,497 23,146 2.05
8 504,645 13,588 2.69
9 277,739 11,620 4.18
10 78,347 5,660 7.22
11 176,891 8,460 4.78
13 89,946 6,600 7.34
14 135,523 7,370 5.44
15 438,156 13,580 3.10
16 429,311 13,455 3.13
17 185,014 9,022 4.88
19 209,128 9,618 4.60
20 160,913 9,060 5.63
Other 65,308 5,258 8.05
Unemployed persons by level of education
Below grade 5 7,178 1,758 24.49
Grade 5 - 9/Year 6 - 10 123,732 6,387 5.16
G.C.E.(O/L)/N.C.G.E. 93,969 5,235 5.57
G.C.E.(A/L)/H.N.C.E. & above 173,535 6,634 3.82
Industry group
1 Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A)
2 Mining & quarrying (B)
3 Manufacturing (C)
6 Construction, Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, Water supply, sewerage, waste management
and remediation activities (D, E,F)
7 Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles(G)
8 Transportation and storage (H)
9 Accommodation and food services activities (I)
10 Information and communication (J)
11 Financial and insurance activities (K)
13 Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)
14 Administrative and support service activities (N)
15 Public administration and defense compulsory social security (O)
16 Education (P)
17 Human health and social work activities (Q)
19 Other service activities (S)
20 Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods and services - producing activities of households
for own use (T)
Other
Other
12 Real estate activities (L)
18 Arts, entertainment and recreation (R)
21 Activities of extra territorial organizations & bodies (U)

- 88 -
 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

ALTERNATIVE ESTIMATES

Alternative Estimates of Employment, Unemployment and Labour Force Characteristics

Official employment, unemployment and labour force characteristics are estimated at the Sri Lanka
Labour Force Survey, based on the internationally comparable concepts and definitions recommended
by the ILO. However the validity of the concepts and definitions used at the survey is questioned very
often in some forums, for the appropriateness of these concepts and definitions in the Sri Lankan
context.

The concepts and definitions, which were found to be controversial, are as below.

(1) Number of Hours of : A person who work at least one hour during the reference week,
Work is considered employed, under these definitions.

(2) Working Age : All persons of age 10 years and over are considered to be in the
Population working age, before 2013. However, this was changed as age 15
and over from 2013 onward.

(3) Employment Status : All,

a) Paid employees, (those who work for wages/salaries).
b) Employers (who have at least one paid employee under them).
c) Own account workers (who carry out the economic activity
without having any paid employees).
d) Contributing family workers (who make their contribution to the
economic activities carried out by their own household, without
wages/salaries).

The validity of the above concepts and definitions is raised due to the following reasons.

(1) Number of Hours of : Some pointed out that one hour per week is too low, to consider
Work a person to be employed.

(2) Working Age : Some pointed out those persons in the age group 10-14 yrs. are
Population too young to be considered in the working age. (From 2013
onward the working age population is considered as age 15 and
over).
(3) Employment Status : Some pointed out that ‘contributing family workers’ may work in
the family enterprise without payment because they have no
other work, and so it is not appropriate to consider them as
employed.

An attempt has been made to produce 'Alternative estimates of Employment, Unemployment and
Labour Force Characteristics,' by revising the original concepts and definitions so that the above issues
are addressed as explained below.

The revisions made are,

(1) Number of Hours of : Persons who work 20 hours or more per week only are
Work considered to be employed.

(2) Contributing Family : Contributing family workers are not considered as employed.
Worker They are considered as economically inactive (not in the labour
force) so only, a) paid employees b) employers and c) own
account workers are considered to be employed.

Following Tables are based on the above alternative concepts and definitions.

- 89 -
Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Alternative estimates (page 2)

Table 1 - Labour force status of household population 15 years & over (Alternative estimates)

Household Labour force Not in

population Total Labour Employed Unemployed labour
Year (15 years labour force Number Rate Number Rate force
& over) force partici: (% to total (% to total number
rate(%) labour force) labour force)
2016 15,448,679 7,325,972 47.4 6,962,973 95.0 362,999 5.0 8,122,707

2017 15,843,735 7,474,883 47.2 7,116,376 95.2 358,507 4.8 8,368,851

2018 16,196,232 7,428,999 45.9 7,056,406 95.0 372,593 5.0 8,767,233

2019 16,424,016 7,609,700 46.3 7,198,383 94.6 411,318 5.4 8,814,316

2020 16,739,396 7,438,037 44.4 6,970,524 93.7 467,513 6.3 9,301,359

2021 17,133,659 7,471,067 43.6 7,031,284 94.1 439,783 5.9 9,662,592

2022 17,161,973 7,497,884 43.7 7,098,552 94.7 399,332 5.3 9,664,089

2023 17,306,492 7,380,485 42.6 6,982,070 94.6 398,415 5.4 9,926,008

Table 2 - Historical table of number and rate of unemployment by age (Alternative estimates)

Age group

Year Total 15 - 19 20 - 24 25 - 29 30 - 39 40 & Above

NO. Rate No. Rate No. Rate No. Rate No. Rate No. Rate
2016 362,999 5.0 58,622 32.8 144,156 22.2 76,624 10.0 47,956 2.7 35,640 0.9

2017 358,507 4.8 46,016 25.1 135,121 19.7 79,727 10.4 53,053 3.0 44,590 1.1

2018 372,593 5.0 52,624 30.4 144,824 22.1 84,000 11.3 55,853 3.3 35,291 0.8

2019 411,318 5.4 53,652 29.3 148,046 22.4 93,793 11.8 59,009 3.4 56,818 1.3

2020 467,513 6.3 62,910 38.0 183,722 27.5 100,359 13.0 64,493 3.9 56,029 1.3

2021 439,783 5.9 39,102 30.8 187,104 29.7 97,631 12.5 66,973 4.2 48,972 1.1

2022 399,332 5.3 38,456 32.0 148,378 23.8 97,317 12.6 56,437 3.5 58,743 1.3

2023 398,415 5.4 39,737 33.5 141,290 24.0 100,763 14.2 56,381 3.7 60,244 1.4

- 90 -
 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023
Alternative Estimates (Page 3)
Table 3 - Currently employed person by industry group (Based on ISIC fourth revision) (Alternative estimates) - Both sexes

Industry group
Year Total
1 2 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 15 16 17 19 20 other

2019 No. 7,198,383 1,538,804 58,117 1,365,637 659,891 992,825 500,547 204,840 62,552 184,666 87,913 193,082 430,760 401,519 164,487 119,721 172,494 60,528

% 100.0 21.4 0.8 19.0 9.2 13.8 7.0 2.8 0.9 2.6 1.2 2.7 6.0 5.6 2.3 1.7 2.4 0.8

2020 No. 6,970,524 1,592,043 51,906 1,276,171 660,251 970,228 494,638 186,117 55,187 174,496 82,307 157,459 433,734 370,960 152,648 114,254 153,050 45,075

% 100.0 22.8 0.7 18.3 9.5 13.9 7.1 2.7 0.8 2.5 1.2 2.3 6.2 5.3 2.2 1.6 2.2 0.6

2021 No. 7,031,284 1,645,518 47,771 1,236,731 643,441 1,015,162 452,687 183,091 71,279 177,033 76,063 129,244 476,399 373,300 168,807 109,266 181,500 43,994

% 100.0 23.4 0.7 17.6 9.2 14.4 6.4 2.6 1.0 2.5 1.1 1.8 6.8 5.3 2.4 1.6 2.6 0.6

2022 No. 7,098,552 1,624,304 54,869 1,273,780 626,142 1,021,153 450,290 195,864 69,084 179,777 81,766 135,361 449,381 429,513 164,503 142,340 135,921 64,505

% 100.0 22.9 0.8 17.9 8.8 14.4 6.3 2.8 1.0 2.5 1.2 1.9 6.3 6.1 2.3 2.0 1.9 0.9

2023 No. 6,982,070 1,565,483 60,338 1,242,417 539,663 994,013 476,430 239,278 77,115 174,986 84,258 126,467 435,718 403,080 181,525 182,460 141,912 56,928

% 100.0 22.4 0.9 17.8 7.7 14.2 6.8 3.4 1.1 2.5 1.2 1.8 6.2 5.8 2.6 2.6 2.0 0.8

Note: These Industry groups are based on ISIC - Rev. 4

Industry group
1 Agriculture, forestry and fishing (A) 15 Public administration and defense compulsory social security (O)
2 Mining & quarrying (B) 16 Education (P)
3 Manufacturing (C) 17 Human health and social work activities (Q)
6 Construction, Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply, Water supply, sewerage, 19 Other service activities (S)
waste management and remediation activities (D,E,F) 20 Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods and services -
7 Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motor cycles(G) producing activities of households for own use (T)
8 Transportation and storage (H) Other
9 Accommodation and food services activities (I)
10 Information and communication (J) Other
11 Financial and insurance activities (K) 12 Real estate activities (L)
13 Professional, scientific and technical activities (M) 18 Arts, entertainment and recreation (R)
14 Administrative and support service activities (N) 21 Activities of extra territorial organizations & bodies (U)

- 91 - - 91 -
 For Office Use Only

Confidential Serial No. of

Year Month Name of the District
Housing Unit
The Information collected in this survey
will be strictly confidential and individual
level information will not be divulged to
any person or agency.

SRI LANKA LABOUR FORCE SURVEY 2023

SURVEY SCHEDULE

Department of Census & Statisics

Sri Lanka
 IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION

1' Address (Where it belongs ) () 11. Number of Household :- No :-

2' Province :- 12. Name of Head of Household :-

3' District :-

13. Respondent’s Name :-

4' DS Division :-

Signature :- Telephone No :-

5' GN Division Number :- Name :-

14. Interviewer’s Name :-

6' Sector :-

Signature :- Date :-
7' Name of M.C./U.C./P.S. :-

8' Name of Ward/ Village/Estate :- 15. Supervisor’s Name :-

9' C.B.No :- Sample Series No :-

Signature :- Date :-
10' Survey Quarter :-

Office use Only

Housing unit Sample Household No

Special Census Block No Household Serial No
Year Month Sector District D.S.Division No code No (within Census (within
(PSU) (Within District)
Block) Housing Unit)
Concept and definitions:

1. Labour Force : The labour force is composed of the economically active population 15 years of age and over

2. The Economically Active Population : Is defined as those persons who are/were employed or unemployed during the reference period of

the survey.

3. Employed: A person (during the reference period) worked as played employee, employers, own account workers (self employed), or unpaid

family worker is said to be employed. This includes a person with a job but were absent from that job during that period on a temporary basis

such as persons who during the reference period were sick , on vacation, maternity leave, strike or temporarily laid off.

4. Unemployed : Persons available and /or looking for work , and who did not work but taken steps during last 4 weeks to find a job and ready

to accept a job if given a work opportunity within next two weeks .

5. Reference Period :

Current Reference Period : The week preceding the week of the survey; i.e. last week.

6. Not in the Labour Force (not economically active) : A person who was neither working nor available / looking for a job are classified as

"not in the labour force". Persons are not in the labour force for such reasons as full time care of the household ,full time students, retired or

Old age , infirmed or disabled , or are not interested in working for one reason or another (Current and usual definitions apply)

7. Underemployment : is defined based on hours of working in his occupation/Economic activity. i.e. The persons who are willing and able to

work beyond the total hours work.

8. Informal Sector : If the institute of the employed person is not officially registered, and if the institute does not keep formal accounts and if the institute has
less than 10 regular employees then the institute is define as an informal sector institute.
Controlling Information
Interviewer’s Visits First Second Third
1. Date
2. Result*

3. Time taken to complete schedule

Minutes Minutes Minutes

* Result Code 4. If the housing unit is consolidated,

Completed 1 No. of H.U.’s listed for this unit.
Deferred 2

Housing unit not available currently ** 3 5. If the housing unit is divided,

Not competent respondent at home 4 No. of H.U.’s in this unit as at present.
Refused 5
Housing unit is temporarily closed 6
Other (Specify& 7

** Specify the reasons for not available

6. Office use only
particular housing unit now
Code of Final Result
(i) Being empty
(ii) Not used by non-seasons Completed 1
(iii) Unable to live Not completed 2
(iv) Demolished Non related unit 3
 CODES FOR PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Column - 3 Relationship to Head of Column - 10 Educational Attainment Column - 11 Attendance at Schooling or other
Household Educational Institution
Head of Household................................................1 School …………………………………………………………1
Wife / Husband .....................................................2 Studying / Studied Grade 1 ......................................................00 University………………………………………………...….…..2
Son / Daughter.......................................................3 Passed Grade - 1........................................................................01 Other Educational Institution …………………………………..3
Parents...................................................................4 Passed Grade - 2........................................................................02 Vocational / Technical institution……………………….………4
Other Relative........................................................5 Passed Grade - 3 .......................................................................03 Does not attend …………………………………………………5
Domestic Servant..................................................6 Passed Grade - 4........................................................................04
Boarder..................................................................7 Passed Grade - 5........................................................................05
Other......................................................................8 Passed Grade - 6........................................................................06 Column - 12, 13, 14 Literacy
Passed Grade - 7........................................................................07 Able to read and write ..............................................................1

Column - 4 Gender Passed Grade - 8........................................................................08 Unable to read and write ..........................................................2
Male......................................................................1 Passed Grade - 9........................................................................09
Female...................................................................2 Passed Grade - 10......................................................................10 For Question No.2 in the Labour Force Part
Passed G.C.E.(O/L) / N.C.G.E..................................................11 Inquire whether (S)he was engaged in following activities
Column - 7 Ethnic Group Passed Grade - 12......................................................................12 Except which are mentioned in question No.2
Sinhala..................................................................1 Passed G.C.E.(A/L) / H.N.C.E..................................................13
Sri Lankan Tamil..................................................2 Passed G.A.Q./G.S.Q................................................................14 * Activities as (Ploughing, Sowing, with regard to transplanting
Indian Tamil.........................................................3 Degree........................................................................................15 Rice, harvesting paddy, cultivation crops, spraying weedicide
Sri Lankan Moor..................................................4 Post Graduate Degree / Diploma...............................................16 Pesticide, fertilizing … etc.)
Malay....................................................................5 Special educational Institutions……………………………….17
Burger...................................................................6 No Schooling.............................................................................19 *All above activities with regarding(vegetable/ permanent crops/
Other.....................................................................9 Fruits/ flower( commercial purposes)
*Livestock operations/ feeding and milking animals, churning
Milk, grassing, bee keeping
Column - 8 Religion
*Making clothes, sowing pieces of cloths or leather, knitting
Buddhist ................................................................1 Embroidery, mat and rope making, ginning, spinning and
Hindu.....................................................................2 weaving
Muslim...................................................................3 Column – 10a Basic Degree
Roman Catholic. Arts 01 Indigeneous Medicine 10 *Making foods/ ice packets for selling purposes
Other Christians ..................................................4 Law 02 Paramedical Studies (1) 11
Other......................................................................9 Management 03 Engineering 12 *Selecting fish, making dried fish
Commerce 04 Fashion Design/ Transport &
Column - 9 Marital Status Medicine 05 Logistic Management 13 *Copra making, coir preparing, coir yarn spinning, cadjan
Dental Surgery 06 Architecture/ Quantity Weaving, coconut husk crushing, cinnamon crushing
Never Married........................................................1 Veterinary Medicine 07 Surveying (2) 14 Beedi making
Married...................................................................2 Agriculture 08 Computer Science/IT (3) 15
Widowed................................................................3 Science 09 Other 19
Divorced.................................................................4
Separated................................................................5
 Personal Information
5 Years and above 10 years and above

Relationship between head

Age (as at last Birthday )

Literacy

then the Basic Degree

Birth year and Month
Name of the Individuals who usually live here

Current Education
including those who are temporarily absent(include

If Q10 =15 or 16
of the household
boarders, lodgers, servants, etc. and exclude
Serial Number

Marital Status
Male/ Female

Educational
temporary visitors)

Attainment
Sinhala Tamil English

Religion

Status
Race
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10a 11 12 13 14
Year Month Years
01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20
 For all person 15 Years and above

Disability Education/ Training

Do you Do you Do you Do you Do you Using your Do you attend any
have have have have have usual formal/ informal
Name of the Individuals who usually live here difficulty difficulty difficulty difficulty difficulty language, education/ training
including those who are temporarily absent(include seeing, hearing, walking or rememberi with self- do you in previous 12
boarders, lodgers, servants, etc. and exclude even if even if climbing ng or care? have months? (If Column 15, 16, 17,
temporary visitors) wearing using a steps? concentrati difficulty currently attend any 18, 19, 20 –
Serial Number

glasses? hearing ng? communic formal/ informal Disability Conditions

aid? ating? education/ training
mention “Yes” )
1.Yes
2. No
1 2 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 No difficulties 1
01 Have miner difficulties 2
02 Have major difficulties 3
03 Cannot do anything 4
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Information on Labour Force (Age 15 years and above) exclude persons who are presently abroad

01. (a) Name of the Person

............................................... ................................................ ................................................. ........................................................

(b) Serial No.

02. Were you Engaged, last week, even for a few hours in paid
employment, own account profitable work or contributing
family work as an economic activity (including employer)
(If it is not possible to identify the person as being engaged Yes 1 1 1 1
in a specific economic activity, inquire whether (S)he was No 2 2 Go to Q 4 2 2
Go to Q 4 Go to Q 4 Go to Q 4
engaged in an activity specified in page 4 of the questionnaire

03. During last week on what activity you were engaged in?
1. The main economic activity ........................................................... 1 1 1 1
2. Another economic activity ............................................................ 2 Go to Q 7 2 Go to Q 7 2 Go to Q 7 2 Go to Q 7
3. The main economic activity and Another economic activity ........ 3 3 3 3
04. Even if you were not engaged in any of the above economic
activity during last week, did you have an economic activity Yes 1 1 1 1
to be engaged in? No Go to Q 6 2 Go to Q 6 2 Go to Q 6 2 Go to Q 6
2
05.Why were you not involving work during last week?
(circle the most appropriate code)
1. Off season/Bad weather ......................................................................... 1 1 1 1
2. Temporary stopping economic activity
(disorganization, suspension of work , mechanical/ electrical ........ 2 2 2 2
breakdown, Shortage of raw material/ equipment/ workers,
financial difficulties, strikes, no works
3 Go to Q 7 3 Go to Q 7 3 Go to Q 7 3 Go to Q 7
3. Sick/Injury/personal ................................................................................
4. Leave/holiday/ vacation/educational leave or training ........................... 4 4 4 4
5. Personal/ family needs ............................................................................ 5 5 5 5
9. Others (specify) ....................................................................................... 9 …………………… 9 …………………… 9 …………………… 9 ……………………
06. (a) Were you engaged in one or more of the following . . . .Go to Q 6(b)
activities during last week? 1 Go to Q 6(b) 1 Go to Q 6(b) 1 Go to Q 6(b) 1
Yes
(Purchasing firewood is not relevant here. If firewood/ No 2 Go to Q 47 2 Go to Q 47 2 Go to Q 47 2 Go to Q 47
Water is only brought from outside, specify the time spent)

Time spent Time spent Time spent Time spent

(hrs.) (hrs.) (hrs.) (hrs.)
(b) Activities
1. bringing firewood for home(own) consumption .............................. 1 1 1 Go to 1 Go to
Go to Go to
2. Bringing water from outside for home(own) consumption ............. 2 Q 47 2 Q 47 2 Q 47 2 Q 47
3. Engaging in a repairing working in own house or building ............ 3 3 3 3
 Serial No.

07. What is the main economic activity, you are engaged in ?

Describe the main activities relevant to this economic activity
(occupation)
* * * *
08. What is the main production activity/ service/activity which is relevant to
the work you are engaged in, at your institution or enterprise/ your place of
work? (Industry)
* * * *

08A. What is the District your institution or enterprise locate? `

* * * *
09. Status in Employment
1. Employee 1 1 1 1
2. Employer 2 2 2 2
3. Own account worker 3 →Go To Q 15 3 →Go To Q 15 3 →Go To Q 15 3 →Go To Q 15
4. Contributing Family Worker 4 4 4 4

Only for paid Employees ( If Q.9=1) Only for Q 9=1 Only for Q 9=1 Only for Q 9=1 Only for Q 9=1
10. Is your employment permanent/ temporary/ casual ?
1 . Permanent 1 1 1 1
2. Temporary 2 2 2 2
3. Casual 3 3 3 3
4. No permanent employer 4 → Go to Q 15 4 → Go to Q 15 4 → Go to Q 15 4 → Go to Q 15
11. Is your employer contributing to a pension scheme or provident fund
on your behalf ?
Yes ............................................ 1 1 1 1
No.............................................. 2 2 2 2
Do not know............................. 3 3 3 3
12. Are you entitled for annual paid leave or leave encashment?
Yes ............................................ 1 1 1 1
No.............................................. 2 2 2 2
Do not know............................. 3 3 3 3
13. Do you have an appointment letter (written contract) from your
employer ?
Yes ............................................ 1 1 1 1
No.............................................. 2 2 2 2
Do not know............................. 3 3 3 3
14. To which sector the institution where you work belongs?
1. Government.................................................................................... 1 1 1 1
2. Semi Government ......................................................................... 2 } Go to Q 20
2 } Go to Q 20
2 } Go to Q 20 2 } Go to Q 20
3. Private............................................................................................ 3 3 3 3
* For office use only
 Serial No.

For persons with Q10= 4 , Q14= 3 or Q9= 2, 3 or 4 For persons with Q10=4 For persons with Q10=4 For persons with Q10=4 For persons with Q10=4
Q14=3or Q9=2,3or 4 Q14=3or Q9=2,3or 4 Q14=3or Q9=2,3or 4 Q14=3or Q9=2,3or 4
15. Is your institution of work/ your business or enterprise yes 1 1 1 1
(agricultural/ non-agricultural) registered under employees No 2 2 2 2
provident fund or Inland Revenue Department ? Do not know 3 3 3 3

16. How does your institution of work/ your business or enterprise (agricultural/
non-agricultural) maintain account recording system?
1. Formal............................................................... 1 1 1 1
2. Informal............................................................ 2 2 2 2
3. No account recording system........................... 3 3 3 3
4. Do not know..................................................... 4 4 4 4
17. What is the total number of regular employees, employed at your Institution of
work/ your Institution?
1. Less than 5 ........................................................................................ 1 1 1 1
2. 5 to 9 .............................................................................................. 2 2 2 2
3. 10 to 15 ............................................................................................ 3 3 3 3
4. 16 to 49 .......................................................................................... 4 4 4 4
5. 50 to 99 .......................................................................................... 5 5 5 5
6. 100 or more ..................................................................................... 6 6 6 6
7. No paid employees/ regular employees ........................................... 7 7 7 7
8. Working for household .................................................................... 8 → Go to Q 20 8 → Go to Q 20 8 → Go to Q 20 8 → Go to Q 20

18. What is the legal status of your institution of work/ your business or enterprise?
1. Publicly Listed/ Limited liability/ Registered corporative 1 1 1 1
2. Individual business/ partnership with members of household 2 2 2 2
3. Ordinary partnership with members of other household 3 3 3 3
9. Other (specify) …………………… 9 …………………… 9 …………………… 9 …………………… 9 ……………………
19. Does the products/ .services of your institute sell or barter . . . .
1. Yes ................................................. 1 1 1 1
2. No ................................................. 2 2 2 2
3. Do not know .................................. 3 3 3 3
 Serial No.

20. What is the number of hours you usually worked at this occupation work per
week? Hours Hours Hours Hours

21. What is the number of hours you actually worked at this occupation during the
reference period ? Hours Hours Hours Hours

22. If Q 21 < Q 20 then go to Q 23. Otherwise go to Q 24 If Q21< Q 20 then go to If Q21< Q 20 then go to If Q21< Q 20 then go to If Q21< Q 20 then go to
Q 23. Otherwise Q 23. Otherwise Q 23. Otherwise Q 23. Otherwise
go to Q 24 go to Q 24 go to Q 24 go to Q 24
23. What is the reason for working fewer hours than usual ?
1. Off season/ Bad weather .................................................................................. 1 1 1 1
2. Temporary stopping economic activities in the organization
2 2 2 2
(disorganization, suspension of work, mechanical, electrical breakdown, ....
Shortage of raw material, financial difficulties, strikes
3. Could not find more work ................................................................................ 3 3 3 3
4. Temporary lay-off (lack of work) .................................................................... 4 4 4 4
5. Job started/ ended within preference period .................................................... 5 5 5 5
6. Temporary dismissed by employer ................................................................. 6 6 6 6
7. Sick / injury/ personal ..................................................................................... 7 7 7 7
8. Leave/ holyday/ vacation/ educational leave or training ................................ 8 8 8 8
9. other (specify) ................................................................................................ 9 …………………… 9 …………………… 9 …………………… 9 ……………………
24. Were you engaged in a secondary occupation / economic activity in the . . . .
last week ? Yes 1 1 1 1
No 2 → Go to Q 40 2 → Go to Q 40 2 → Go to Q 40 2 → Go to Q 40
25. What was your secondary occupation ?
Describe the main activities relevant to this activity.

* * * *
26. What is the main production/ service/ activity which is relevant to the
Secondary work you are engaged in, at your institution or enterprise/ your
place of work ?

* * * *
* Office use only
 Serial No.

27. Status of secondary Occupation

1. Employee 1 1 1 1
2. Employer 2 2 2 2
3. Own account worker 3 3 3 3
Go to Q 33 Go to Q 33 Go to Q 33 Go to Q 33
4. Contributing Family Worker 4 4 4 4
Only for paid employees If Q 27 = 1 If Q 27 = 1 If Q 27 = 1 If Q 27 = 1
If Q 27 = 1
28. Is your employment permanent/ temporary/ casual ?
1 . Permanent 1 1 1 1
2. Temporary 2 2 2 2
3. Casual 3 3 3 3
4. No permanent employer
4 → Go to Q 33 4 → Go to Q 33 4 → Go to Q 33 4 → Go to Q 33
29. Is your employer contributing to a pension scheme or provident fund on
your behalf ?
Yes ............................................ 1 1 1 1
No.............................................. 2 2 2 2
Do not know.............................
3 3 3 3
30. Are you entitled for annual paid leave or leave encashment?
Yes ............................................ 1 1 1 1
No..............................................
2 2 2 2
Do not know.............................
3 3 3 3
31. Do you have an appointment letter (written contract) from your
employer ?
Yes ............................................ 1 1 1 1
No.............................................. 2 2 2 2
Do not know.............................
3 3 3 3
32. To which sector the institution where you work belongs?
1. Government.................................................................................... 1 1 1 1
2. Semi Government .........................................................................
3. Private............................................................................................
2 }} →Go to Q 38.
2 } →Go to Q 38.
2 } →Go to Q 38.
2 } →Go to Q 38.

3 3 3 3
33. Is your institution of work/ your business or enterprise
(agricultural/ non-agricultural) registered under employees yes 1 1 1 1
provident fund or Inland Revenue Department ? No 2 2 2 2
Do not 3 3 3 3
know
 Serial No.

34. How does your institution/business or enterprise (agricultural/

non- agricultural) Maintain account recording system?
1. Formal...................................................... 1 1 1 1
2. Informal.................................................... 2 2 2 2
3. No account recording system................... 3 3 3 3
4. Do not know............................................ 4 4 4 4
35. What is the total number of regular employees, employed at your Institution?
1. Less than 5 ........................................................................................
1 1 1 1
2. 5 to 9 ..............................................................................................
2 2 2 2
3. 10 to 15 ............................................................................................
3 3 3 3
4. 16 to 49 .......................................................................................... 4 4 4 4
5. 50 to 99 .......................................................................................... 5 5 5 5
6. 100 or more ..................................................................................... 6 6 6 6
7. No paid employees/ regular employees ........................................... 7 7 7 7
8. Working for household .................................................................... 8 →Go to Q 38 8 →Go to Q 38 8 →Go to Q 38 8 →Go to Q 38
36. What is the legal status of your institution/ business or enterprise?
1. Publicly Listed/ Limited liability/ Registered corporative 1 1 1 1
2. Individual business/ partnership with members of household 2 2 2 2
3. Ordinary partnership with members of other household 3 3 3 3
9. Other (specify) …………………… 9 9 9 9
…………………… …………………… …………………… ……………………
.
37. Does the products/ services of your institute sell or barter . . . .
1. Yes ................................................. 1 1 1 1
2. No ................................................. 2 2 2 2
3. Do not know .................................. 3 3 3 3

38. What is the number of hours you usually work per week?
Hours Hours Hours Hours

39. What is the number of hours you actually worked at this occupation during
the reference period ? Hours Hours Hours Hours
For all persons who are employed and age 15 and above
Serial No.

40.
Less →Go to Less →Go to Less →Go to Less →Go to
than 35 Q41 than 35 Q41 than 35 Q41 than 35 Q 41
(a) Total No. of hours in Q 20 and Q 38 (state).................................
35 & 35 & 35 & 35 &
→Go to →Go to →Go to →Go to
over over over over
Q 40(b) Q 40(b) Q 40(b) Q 40(b)

Less →Go to Q Less →Go to Less →Go to Less →Go to Q

(b) Total No. of hours in Q 21 and Q 39 (state)................................. than 35 40(c) than 35 Q 40(c ) than 35 Q 40(c ) than 35 40(c )
(b) Total No. of hours in Q 21 and Q 39 (state)................................. 35 & →Go to 35 & →Go to 35 & →Go to 35 & →Go to
over Q 45 over Q 45 over Q 45 over Q 45

Q 23 → Go to Q 23 → Go to Q 23 → Go to Q 23 → Go to
(c) ..................................................................................................... code 1 Q 41 code 1 Q 41 code 1 Q 41 code 1 Q 41
Q 23 → Go to Q 23 → Go to Q 23 → Go to Q 23 → Go to
code 2 - 9 Q 45 code 2 - 9 Q 45 code 2 - Q 45 code 2 - 9 Q 45
9
41. Would you like to work, if you are given an opportunity to
work during a longer period (than you usually work ....... hours )
(i) in the present occupation/ economic activity.
(ii) in another occupation in addition to the present occupation
(iii) engaging yourself fully in another occupation Yes 1 1 1 1
No 2 → Go to Q 45 2 → Go to Q 45 2 → Go to Q 45 2 → Go to Q 45
42. If so, how would you like to work?
1. In the present occupation 1 1 1 1
2. In another occupation in addition to the present occupation 2 2 2 2
3. Fully in another occupation 3 3 3 3
4. Any of the above 4 4 4 4
43. How many extra hours you would be able to work, in addition to those
Hours Hours Hours Hours
you usually work per week ?
44. As mentioned above, are you ready to work on these extra
hours, if you get an opportunity within next two weeks? Yes 1 1 1 1
No 2 2 2 2
For all employed persons aged 15 and above
Serial Number

45. Are you an employee in the main occupation? Yes 1 1 1 1

No 2 → Go to (c) 2 → Go to (c) 2 → Go to (c) 2 → Go to (c)

For month salary earners:

(a) (i) Gross salary for last month (Rs.) (including all allowances)
(ii) Additional earnings during last month (Rs.) (overtime payment etc.)
(iii) Income in kind (if there is any) (Rs.)

For daily wage earners :

(b) (i) Daily wage (Rs.)
(ii) Number of days worked last month
(iii) Total income (Rs.)
(iv) Income in kind (if there is any ) (Rs.)

For employers and own account workers :

(excluding contributing family workers)
(c) (i) Monthly income (Rs.)

46. Are you an employee in the secondary occupation? Yes 1 1 1 1

No 2 → Go to (c) 2 → Go to (c) 2 → Go to (c) 2 → Go to (c)

No secondary occupation ……………………………………………… 3 → Go to Q 62 3 → Go to Q 62 3 → Go to Q 62 3 → Go to Q 62

For month salary earners:

(a) (i) Gross salary for last month (Rs.) (including all allowances)
(ii) Additional earnings during last month (Rs.) (overtime payment etc.)
(iii) Income in kind (if there is any) (Rs.)

For daily wage earners :

(b) (i) Daily wage (Rs.)
(ii) Number of days worked last month
(iii) Total income (Rs.)
(iv) Income in kind (if there is any ) (Rs.)

For employers and own account workers :

(excluding contributing family workers)
(c) (i) Monthly income (Rs.)
Go to Q 62 Go to Q 62 Go to Q 62 Go to Q 62
For all persons aged 15 and above other than Employed persons (persons answered 1 or 2 for Q6 (a))

Serial No.

47. Would you expected to do a paid job or to start a self Yes 1 1 1 1

employment? No 2 → Go to Q 52 2 → Go to Q 52 2 → Go to Q 52 2 → Go to Q 52
2

Already got a job and ready to go / already made arrangements for → Go to Q 53

3 3 → Go to Q 53 3 → Go to Q 53 3 → Go to Q 53
self employment activity
48. Did you take any steps during the last 4 weeks to find a job
Yes 1 1 1 1
Or to start a self employment?
No 2 → Go to Q 50 2 → Go to Q 50 2 → Go to Q 50 2 → Go to Q 50
49. What are the steps taken?
(Encircle most relevant codes up to a maximum of 3)
1. Registered for a government job
1 1 1 1
2. Registered in private sector Institutions/Internet 2 2 2 2
3. Replying for advertisements in government gazette/news papers/ 3 3 3 3
Publishing advertisements
Go to Q 51 Go to Q 51 Go to Q 51 Go to Q 51
4. Inquiring from persons with public sector/ private sector job contacts/ 4 4 4 4
Friends/ relations
5. Taking action to find financial and other resources to start a self 5 5 5 5
Employment
9. Other (specify)………….. 9 ………………. 9 ………………. 9 ………………. 9 ……………….
50. What was the main reason for not taking any action to find a job during
The last 4 weeks (circle the most appropriate code)

1. Awaiting results of the examination/interview held for a job 1 1 1 1

2. Does not believe that (S)he gets a suitable job 2 2 2 2
3. Unable to find any work 3 3 3 3
4. Does not possess skills or training required for a job 4 4 4 4
5. Personal difficulties faced while finding a job 5 5 5 5
6. Household work 6 6 6 6
7. Educational activities 7 7 7 7
9. Other (specify)…………. 9 ………………. 9 ………………. 9 ………………. 9 ……………….
 Serial No.

51. Are you ready to accept a job, if offered within next two weeks/ to
Start a self employment within next two weeks? Yes 1 → Go to Q 53 1 → Go to Q 53 1 → Go to Q 53 1 → Go to Q 53
No 2 2 2 2
52. What is the reason for not accepting the job in Q51 ?
1. Educational or vocational training activities 1 1 1 1
2. Household activities 2 2 2 2
3. Retired/Old age 3 →Go to Q 62 3 →Go to Q 62 3 →Go to Q 62 3 →Go to Q 62
4. Physically illness/ disabled 4 4 4 4
9. Other (specify) 9 ………………. 9 ………………. 9 ………………. 9 ……………….
53. Do you expect a self-employment or a paid employment?
1. Self employment 1 → Go to Q 55 1 → Go to Q 55 1 → Go to Q 55 1 → Go to Q 55
2. Paid employment 2 2 2 2
3 .Any employment 3 → Go to Q 57 3 → Go to Q 57 3 → Go to Q 57 3 → Go to Q 57
54. Would you expect your job in the public sector? private sector or semi
Government sector?
1. Public sector 1 1 1 1
2. Semi Government sector 2 2 2 2
3. Private sector 3 → Go to Q 56 3 → Go to Q 56 3 → Go to Q 56 3 → Go to Q 56
4. Any sector 4 4 4 4
55. (a) If you are interested in starting a self employment, do you Yes 1 → Go to (b) 1 → Go to (b) 1 → Go to (b) 1 → Go to (b)
Expect any help from the Government/ Other institution for No 2 → Go to Q 56 2 → Go to Q 56 2 → Go to Q 56 2 → Go to Q 56
Basic needs ?

(b) What type of assistance do you expect? (maximum 3 options only)

1. Getting a loan facility 1 1 1 1
2. An institution/ a person to seek the necessary knowledge 2 2 2 2
3. Facilities to sell the production 3 3 3 3
4 4 4 4
4. Capital resources such as land/machinery
5 5 5 5
5. Not decided yet
9 9 9 9
9. Other (specify) ………………. ………………. ………………. ……………….
56. Describe the nature of the occupation/ economic activity/ self employment
That you like to be engaged in

Code * Code * Code * Code *

* For office use only
 Serial No.

57. What is the minimum monthly salary/income that you expect through

The employment/business? (Rs.)

58. How long have you been looking for work?

1. Less than 6 months
2. Between 6 - 12 months 1 1 1 1
3. One year or more 2 2 2 2
3 3 3 3
59. Have you ever been engaged in a paid job or self employment or
Family work continuously for 2 weeks
Yes 1 1 1 1
No 2 → Go to Q 62 2 → Go to Q 62 2 → Go to Q 62 2 → Go to Q 62
60. What are your main activities of that job/work?

60a. Occupation * Code * Code * Code * Code

60b. Industry * Code * Code * Code * Code

61. Status of your Occupation

1. Employee
1 1 1 1
2. Employer 2 2 2 2
3. Own account worker 3 Go to Q 62 3 Go to Q 62 3 Go to Q 62 3 Go to Q 62
4. Contributing Family Worker 4 4 4 4
* for office use only
For all persons aged 15 and above
Serial No.

62. Have you successfully completed a formal professional/

Technical training, relevant to an occupation/ Yes 1 1 1 1
self-employment No 2 → Go to Q 64 2 → Go to Q 64 2 → Go to Q 64 2 → Go to Q 64
63. (a) Training (1)
(i) Name of the training
(state the highest stage passed, if relevant)
(ii) Field of training * * * *
(iii) Nature of the certificate received: Non NVQ NVQ 1- 4 NVQ 5- 7 Non NVQ NVQ 1- 4 NVQ 5- 7 Non NVQ NVQ 1- 4 NVQ 5- 7 Non NVQ NVQ 1- 4 NVQ 5- 7
1. General Certificate 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
2. Diploma Certificate 3 4 3 4 3 4 3 4
3. Higher Diploma or above Higher Diploma Certificate 5 6 5 6 5 6 5 6
(iv) Institution (the institution that offered the qualification)
(v) Duration : (in months) ………………. * ………………… * ……………………. * …………………. *
(if not defined mention 00)

(a) Training (2)

(i) Name of the training
(state the highest stage passed, if relevant)
(ii) Field of training
* * * *
(iii) Nature of the certificate received: Non NVQ NVQ 1- 4 NVQ 5- 7 Non NVQ NVQ 1- 4 NVQ 5- 7 Non NVQ NVQ 1- 4 NVQ 5- 7 Non NVQ NVQ 1- 4 NVQ 5- 7

1. General Certificate 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
2. Diploma Certificate 3 4 3 4 3 4 3 4
3. Higher Diploma or above Higher Diploma Certificate 5 6 5 6 5 6 5 6

(iv) Institution (the institution that offered the qualification) ……………….. * ……………... * ………………… * ………………… *
(v) Duration : (in months)
(if not defined mention 00) . End End End End
64. What was the reason for not having such a formal professional/ technical
Training (circle the most appropriate code)
1. Thinking that the current higher educational qualifications are sufficient
For having a job ……………………………………………………….. 1 1 1 1
2. Does not feel the need of having such training to find a job…………… 2 2 2 2
3. Financial difficulties to get a suitable formal training………………..... 3 3 3 3
4. Unavailability of training projects or institutions to get a proper training 4 4 4 4
In their living area ……………………………………………………..
5 5 5 5
5. No confidence about the institutions in their area……………………….
6 6 6 6
6. Currently having a training/ studying at school ………………………..
7. Does not feel the need…………………………………………………. 7 7 7 7
8. No training provided from the working institute………………………. 8 8 8 8
9. Could not receive training due to job activities………………………... 9 9 9 9
10. Other (specify)………………………………………………………… 10 10 10 10
* for office use only
 Digital Literacy ( For all persons aged 5 and above )
Person serial number and name according to labour force schedule

C 01. Do you have the following digital devices (Communication devices), If yes, then Device available Number Device available Number Device available Number Device available Number
how many? Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes No

(1)Desktop ……………………………………………………………. 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 ---------------------

(2)Laptop ……………………………………………………….…….. 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 ---------------------
(3)Tablet ……………………………………………………………... 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 ---------------------
(4)Mobile Phone (Smart) ………………………………………….…. 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 ---------------------
(5)Mobile Phone (Non -Smart) ………………………………………. 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 ---------------------
(6)Other ………………………………………………………………. 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 --------------------- 1 2 ---------------------

C 02. Are you aware about the activities done by the computer? ( Maximum 3 Yes 1 1 1 1
Options) No 2 → Go to C 05 2 → Go to C 05 2 → Go to C 05 2 → Go to C 05

(1) Educational activities ………………………………………….. 1 1 1 1

(2) Economic activities ……………………………………………. 2 2 2 2
(3) Entertainment activities ………………………………………... 3 3 3 3
(4) Internet/ E-mail facilities ……………………………………… 4 4 4 4
(5) Other (specify) ………………………………………………… 9 …………………… 9 …………………… 9 …………………… 9 ……………………
C 03. Can you do some activity using a computer? Yes 1 ……. 1 ……. 1 ……. 1 …….
What purposes? ( Maximum 3 options) No 2 → Go to C 05 2 → Go to C 05 2 → Go to C 05 2 → Go to C 05

(1) Educational activities ………………………………………….. 1 1 1 1

(2) Economic activities ……………………………………………. 2 2 2 2
(3) Entertainment activities ………………………………………... 3 3 3 3
(4) Internet/ E-mail facilities ……………………………………… 4 4 4 4
(5) Other (specify) ………………………………………………… 9 …………………… 9 …………………… 9 …………………… 9 ……………………
C 04. How did you get computer knowledge? ( Maximum 5 options)
……. ……. …….
(1) Followed a private computer course (6) From family members 1 6 1 6 1 6 1 6
(2) School/ University (7) From friends/relations 2 7 2 7 2 7 2 7
(3) Government resource centers (8) Self study 3 8 3 8 3 8 3 8
(4) Job related activities (9) Using media 4 9 4 9 4 9 4 9
(5) Training given from the office (10)Other 5 10 5 10 5 10 5 10
C 05. Can you do some activity using a smart phone/Tablet? Yes 1 1 1 1
No 2 2 2 2
C 06. Did you use email at least once during last 12 months? Yes 1 1 1 1
No 2 2 2 2
C 07. Did you use internet at least once during last 12 months? Yes 1 1 1 1
No 2 → Go to next person 2 → Go to next person 2 → Go to next person 2 → Go to next person
C 08. Which device did you use to connect to internet/ email? (Maximum 4 options)
(1) Computer (Desktop/Laptop) (3) Tablet 1 → Go to 3 1 → Go to 3 1 → Go to 3 1 → Go to 3
(2) Smart Phone (4) Mobile Phone 2 C 09 4 2 C 09 4 2 C 09 4 2 C 09 4
C 09. Where did you use internet during last 12 months? (Maximum 3 options)
(1) At office (5) School/ University 1 4 1 4 1 4 1 4
(2) At home (6) Government provided 2 5 2 5 2 5 2 5
(3) At friend’s/relative's home “Nenasala”, “Vidatha”, 3 6 3 6 3 6 3 6
(4) At a private institute “Vishwaghana”,
 Labour Force Survey - Annual Report 2023

Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey

Annual Report

The Vision of DCS The Mission of DCS

“To be the leader in the region in producing timely statistical “Making contribution in the socioeconomic development of the country by
information to achieve the country’s development goals.” providing accurate timely statistics, more Effectively by means of new
technology, and utilising the services of dedicated staff under a strategic
leadership to become a prosperous nation in the globalised environment.”

Department of Census & Statistics info@statistics.gov.lk This publication is produced by the Sample Survey Division
Sankyana Mandiraya +94 11-2147000 7th floor, Department of Census and Statistics
No. 306/71, Polduwa Road +94 11-2147011 sample.survey@statistics.gov.lk
Battaramulla statistics.gov.lk +94 11-2147458 +94 11-2147447

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