Govt targeting US $ 7 billion remittances
Ramani Kangaraarachchi
The government targets US $ seven billion worth foreign remittances
by 2020 as per the proposed framework for National Human Resources and
Employment Policy.
Making a presentation at the seminar on the Formulation of the
National Human Resources and Employment Policy of Sri Lanka, Decent Work
Team for South Asia International Labour Office in New Delhi, Senior
Employment Specialist Piyasiri Wickremasekera said that the remittances
in 2005 was only US $ two billion and US $ 3.8 billion in 2010.
He said that growth alone does not mean economic prosperity and the
Mahinda Chinthana goal is to share the benefits of growth across all
segments of the population and also to prevent inequities, social
exclusion and adverse environmental repercussions.
The policy framework has cited some employment targets to be achieved
by 2016 and 2020 based on the figures in 2010. Accordingly the
government targets to reduce the rate of unemployment from 5.3 to 3.2
percent of the labour force. The female unemployment will be reduced to
5.9 percent in 2016 from 7.7 percent in 2010 and share of women in
labour force to reach 40 percent in 2020 from 34.4 in 2010. A specific
target of creating 1.6 million jobs in industrial employment is
expected.
Referring to some of the strategies Wickramasekara said through human
resource planning and skills and productivity promotion, the mismatch of
skills will be rectified so that emerging demands for improving
international competitiveness could be met. Designing labour market
policies for groups such as rural youth and working poor in the informal
economy and giving social protection extending the coverage for all
including the informal sector are some of the other strategies, he said. |
