Unemployment in Sri Lanka - Explanations, Constraints and Prospects for the Future
(2005)Department of Economics
- Abstract
- Sri Lanka has experienced a double-digit unemployment rate for almost three
decades. The problem of the country is that there exists a mismatch between the
demand for and the supply of the educated labour force, which is reflected in
youth unemployment. The aim of the thesis is to explain this mismatch. We use
the theories of unemployment, the labour market and human capital applicable
to developing countries. The analysis embraces how the labour market, the
households and the governmental policies are influencing one another in the
economy in relation to the problem of unemployment. The main problem is not
that there is a lack of jobs; it is rather that there is a large gap between the
“good” and the “bad” ones. This leads to a queuing... (More) - Sri Lanka has experienced a double-digit unemployment rate for almost three
decades. The problem of the country is that there exists a mismatch between the
demand for and the supply of the educated labour force, which is reflected in
youth unemployment. The aim of the thesis is to explain this mismatch. We use
the theories of unemployment, the labour market and human capital applicable
to developing countries. The analysis embraces how the labour market, the
households and the governmental policies are influencing one another in the
economy in relation to the problem of unemployment. The main problem is not
that there is a lack of jobs; it is rather that there is a large gap between the
“good” and the “bad” ones. This leads to a queuing behaviour where the
educated stay unemployed rather than taking a job that is below their
preferences. There is also a weak linkage between the educational system and
the labour market, meaning that the schools and training institutes does not
produce the skills needed in the industry. Another explanation to the
unemployment problem is that stringent labour market regulations discourage
job creation. We believe that the relatively high educational level does not
contribute to higher productivity of the people, as long as the country is trapped
in labour-intensive, low-value production structure. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1337285
- author
- Aggestam, Josefin and Hallberg, Anna
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2005
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- Sri Lanka, youth unemployment, labour force, labour market, human, Economics, econometrics, economic theory, economic systems, economic policy, Nationalekonomi, ekonometri, ekonomisk teori, ekonomiska system, ekonomisk politik
- language
- English
- id
- 1337285
- date added to LUP
- 2005-03-17 00:00:00
- date last changed
- 2010-08-03 10:50:32
@misc{1337285,
abstract = {{Sri Lanka has experienced a double-digit unemployment rate for almost three
decades. The problem of the country is that there exists a mismatch between the
demand for and the supply of the educated labour force, which is reflected in
youth unemployment. The aim of the thesis is to explain this mismatch. We use
the theories of unemployment, the labour market and human capital applicable
to developing countries. The analysis embraces how the labour market, the
households and the governmental policies are influencing one another in the
economy in relation to the problem of unemployment. The main problem is not
that there is a lack of jobs; it is rather that there is a large gap between the
“good” and the “bad” ones. This leads to a queuing behaviour where the
educated stay unemployed rather than taking a job that is below their
preferences. There is also a weak linkage between the educational system and
the labour market, meaning that the schools and training institutes does not
produce the skills needed in the industry. Another explanation to the
unemployment problem is that stringent labour market regulations discourage
job creation. We believe that the relatively high educational level does not
contribute to higher productivity of the people, as long as the country is trapped
in labour-intensive, low-value production structure.}},
author = {{Aggestam, Josefin and Hallberg, Anna}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Unemployment in Sri Lanka - Explanations, Constraints and Prospects for the Future}},
year = {{2005}},
}