New trends emerge in foreign employment, drop in migration of domestic workers
View(s):By Sachin Parathalingam
Sri Lanka is experiencing an increase in the proportion of its labour force seeking employment in foreign markets, the 2012 report of the Central Bank (CB) reveals. The report indicates that during the period 2003-2012, there was a 33 per cent increase in total employment placements overseas.
The report signalled a rise in the percentage of male foreign employers accompanied by a fall in the percentage of females seeking employment overseas. The proportion of males employed abroad consistently outstrips that of females from 2010 onwards as per the report.
Even more unexpected is the statistic highlighting an overall fall in the number of Sri Lankan housemaids going abroad in search of jobs by 7 per cent between 2003 and 2012. This has been stabilized by rising foreign employment rates in the categories of skilled and unskilled labour during the same period accounting for the overall surge in the supply of Sri Lankan labour for foreign employment.
Speaking to the Business Times, Deputy General Manager at the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLFEB) Mangala Randeniya stated that “the SLFEB discourages females going abroad as domestic workers”. He noted that “domestic workers overseas are highly monitored in order to identify regions of vulnerability”.
Mr. Randeniya also attributed the fall in the number of overseas domestic workers to the 2010 increase in the legal age restriction to work overseas from 18-21 years.
The report also strikingly indicates a dramatic fall in the ratio of licensed agents as the source of foreign employment hinting possibly at a rise in informal sector activity. The percentage of licensed agents providing foreign employment opportunities in Sri Lanka halved from 2003-2012 and currently stands at a mere 37 per cent.
Mr. Randeniya noted in this regard “there are many other systems now available for capable employees to exploit foreign employment opportunities”. When asked about the possibility of greater exploitation through such informal activity, he dismissed the possibility stating that “there is a low possibility of abuse and exploitation because we only encourage professionals, skilled and semi-skilled labour to engage in foreign employment”. He further noted that the SLFEB continuously monitors overseas employees through the host embassies and agents minimizing the probability of the employee’s personal safety being at risk.
The figures show that over the 10 year period, the percentage of those who went abroad through licensed agents dropped to 37 per cent in 2012 from 74 per cent in 2013 while the ‘other’ category rose to 63 per cent. The male component of migration rose to 57 per cent from 36 per cent while the female ratio fell to 49 per cent from 64 per cent in 2012 and 2003, respectively.
Other interesting data on the different component of migration for employment showed that the housemaids’ ratio fell to 42 per cent from 49 per cent; skilled workers were unchanged at 24 per cent from 23 per cent; unskilled labour was unchanged at 22 per cent from 21 per cent while the ‘other’ category which would include professionals rose to 12 per cent from 8 per cent in 2012 and 2003, respectively. Despite licensed agencies reducing their share of overseas migration for employment, the number of agents rose to 692 from 524 in the two years that were analysed.
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