Lanka ranks high in Korean labour market

Rasika Somarathna

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's ratings in the Korean migrant labour market has shown a rapid increase, improving its ranking from a meagre 13, one year back to a very competitive number three, Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) Chairman Kingsley Ranawaka said.

Addressing the 100th batch of students who successfully completed the Korean job training course at the SLBFE facility in Ratmalana, Ranawaka attributed the success to a well coordinated pre-job training programme, which has effectively contributed to the enhancing capacity of the labour migrants before departure.

Under the new training programme, prospective applicants who pass a language test and a medical fitness exam are subjected to a 12 day in-house training on various aspects related to employment in Korea, including a rigorous physical training course conducted by Army trainers.

Due to upgrading of the training provided to these young aspirants, labour complaints from Korea which stood as high as 43 per cent one year back has dropped to three per cent today, Ranawaka said.

He said one year back, Sri Lanka had faced the danger of losing job quotas from Korea due to a high percentage of complaints. The agreement between the two countries would have been annulled if the complaints had exceeded 50 per cent. Thus in their endeavour to prepare quality manpower to suit tough demands in Korea, the SLBFE had sought help from Army instructors as well as other professionals including personnel from Korea to lend a hand in their latest training programme.

In the Sri Lankan foreign employment market, Korea ranks very high due to the fact that the salary provided for migrant labourers in Korea (more than Rs.100,000 a month) is high in comparison to others like the Middle East.

According to Ranawaka over 6,000 Sri Lankans have been sent to Korea for employment this year.