ILO releases Skills Gap report

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) released the report on 'Skills Gap in Four Industrial Sectors in Sri Lanka' at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel recently.

Following a request from the former Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development to carry out an assessment of the skills gap in four initial priority sectors identified by the Government, the ILO commissioned this study to identify the critical issues that need to be addressed to bridge the gap generated by the skills mismatch in four sectors.

This report serves as an overview of the skills gap in the information communication and technology, tourism and hospitality, construction, and the light engineering industries.

This study is part of the National Skills Sector Development Program 2014-2020 (SSDP) that has been developed to improve the quality and relevance of skills training provision in Sri Lanka.

The ILO Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Donglin Li, said that the four sectors covered in the study cumulatively contribute 9% of the country's GDP and 10% of total employment in Sri Lanka.

The objective of this report was to review conditions of demand and supply related to skills-development related to the four sectors, considering the shortage in workers with skills, wage gaps, the lack of instructors and other factors.

Secretary to the Ministry of Labour W. J. L .U. Wijayaweera said that the world faces a potential shortage of millions of highly-skilled workers and Sri Lanka would feel the detrimental effects of this soon. He said, "Education and training systems do not provide an adequate number of trained workers for the environment," estimating that less than 10% of the demand for skilled Sri Lankan workers can actually be met.