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.