The World Bank is providing more than 100 million US Dollars for skills development in Sri Lanka.
The grant assistance through the World Bank’s lending arm, International Development Association (IDA), will be utilized to expand the availability of employable workers by increasing access to high quality labor market-relevant skills development programs. The project will open new career prospects for skilled employment that is critical to sustain growth in a middle income country.
Although the overall unemployment rate declined from 9 percent in 2000 to 4 percent in 2012, about 20 percent of 15-24 year-olds were still unemployed in 2012, according to the World Bank data.
Outlining the current challenges of the labor market that the project seeks to address, World Bank Country Director for Sri Lanka and the Maldives Francoise Clottes, said that over 50 percent of firms say that the education system does not produce skills that are relevant while 33 percent consider the lack of adequate skills as one of the major constraints on operating and growing their businesses.
Task Team Leader of the Project Halil Dundar said World Bank will closely collaborate with other development partners such as the Asian Development Bank to expand the supply of skilled and employable workers by increasing access to quality and labor market relevant training programs.
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