This meme by Nadun Basnayake, via Sri Lankan Memes, isn’t stunning, but it describes the state of Sri Lankan higher education pretty well. The social contract is basically broken. The more educated you are, the higher you’re unemployment. Basically, if you study hard and do what you’re supposed to, you’ll be screwed. It’s crazy pants.
Seriously, I checked the data from the latest labor thing (third quarter 2011) and unemployment is higher the more education you have. Dramatically so.
| Unemployment Rate | Total | Below O/L | O/L | Above A/L |
| Total | 3.9 | 2.4 | 4.3 | 9.3 |
| Male | 2.5 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 5.5 |
| Female | 6.7 | 3.8 | 8.0 | 13.7 |
The worst result is for women that get educated, and they are becoming the majority in higher Ed. For a woman that has more than an A/Level education, unemployment is 13.7%. What’s interesting, however, is that the overall unemployment rate of 3.9% is much lower than the United States which is currently clocking 8.1%, more if you include people that have completely dropped out of the job market altogether.
Where Sri Lanka does stand out, however, is that it’s one of very few countries in the world where higher education makes you less employable. It’s actually the opposite of the social contract a nation extends its youth, and something is really quite terribly wrong.
Stop your analyzing, man. You know all of this is nothing but an international conspiracy.
Problem is not within higher education but the stream you are selecting.
It is very hard to believe that Sri Lanka has only 3.9% unemployment rate which is considered to be a totally employed (or very close to that) society in world standard. These statistics are also screwed up by the CB.
Statistic might speak of low or high unemployment rates, however on the ground it is a different story.
Regardless of one’s education level, a JOB or employment opportunity = income. This income would result helping an individual provide some kind of relief to themselves, at least on a temporary basis.
What I have come to notice is that the lack of wanting a JOB is the root cause of high unemployment in this country. The education system has failed, but it has failed to provide one important lesson to its students – “You work for what you get”
This is a labourer’s market, they choose where or if they want to work. I might stress that your direction might be in line with education, however the concept of working your way up is lost in their minds, they go for the JOB they want, if they do not want it, they stay at some and complain about being unemployed. If you have passed your A/L’s and the only JOB available is a manufacturing JOB and you are in need of employment, I would think a rational mind would go for it. However in my experience i would say 98% of the time the mindset is “I get a desk job, if don’t I’m going to stay at home”
So where is the attitude of working? or striving to achieve something in life? All of them want to be spoon fed.
Are the statistics skewed by the age range in the survey? By that I mean, are more people unemployed above A/L because they are um, studying?
I think this is misleading, actually! Sri Lanka near enough has full employment because wages are so low and there are legal, cultural and familial pressures not to sack people.
When I got my SL driver’s licence there were five people employed in the medical office to 1) take my 500Rs, 2) issue a receipt, 3) take my name, 4) enter my name and PPT number into a book, and 5) to take my signature. Seriously. Employment stats are rarely meaningfully compatible with the US.
With regard to university education, are these unemployed people turned down by employers for jobs because of their education? From what I understand it’s rather the other way around.