Forbes is reporting that the GOSL has
agreed to give the Chinese 15,000 acres for an industrial zone to create a
million jobs. The reality is that it will provide a million jobs for a million
Chinese, as there will be NO Sri Lankan left to take these jobs. I sincerely
believe that we are living in a fallacy of mythical jobs, when we cannot fill
the real jobs in our Economy.
I meet so many employers including the
top business men of the day. Their broken record is simple. “We just can’t find the right
people for the jobs we have and it is stifling our ability to grow.” It
is the Education STUPID, and that is ALL that we have to fix, and all will fall
into place.
Anyone who wants a job can find one, but
in our land of lotus eaters, it is mythical jobs that people are dreaming about
that they are looking for, and those I am afraid don’t exist, no matter how
much day dreaming takes place about them.
When will the politicians realize that
our youth today have certain ambitions, and they are NOT fulfilled by the jobs
that the Govt. believes will be created. Unlike most Countries less endowed by God’s
largess, the price point at which an unemployed person will take on work is rising,
and I believe it is now Rs50K a month for the Greater Colombo area, so that MUST
be in the back of a person’s mind. I know personally that I was not able to persuade
6 youth who were initially organized to come to Colombo for a Rs40K a month job,
no skills needed but to be machine operators, who will have work some overtime,
and on the morning they were set to leave Minneriya for work they en masse decided
not to go, as they wanted to go fishing that day in the local tank instead. Such
are their priorities.
Sri Lanka defies ANY ECONOMIC THEORY currently
known to man, and it is time for a new NOBEL dissertation based on our economy,
where we will just have to leapfrog to the minimum US$1,000 a month jobs, and train
our people intensively from pre-school to get them, starting with 5 S behavior of
discipline and conservation. I believe we can do it, as the brains are certainly
in place at that age, but the education system needs so much reform, that even the
Govt. does not have a clue on the processes and until this basic requirement gets
the needed resources will are in limbo, in LA LA LAND!
1 comment:
The problems in the labour market are many fold:
1. The Government employs too many people - 1.3m in the public service, this has drawn a large section of the labour pool
2. three-wheelers - around a 100,000 entered the market within the last year, and around 1m on the roads. Threewheelers offer easy money and take people out of productive employment.
add to this the migration, as people struggle with the cost of living.
The universities produce graduates who seem to lack the skills needed.
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