Govt. requests for ILO support to establish labour workforce digital database

Sri Lanka has requested for support from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to assist the government’s initiative to establish a digital database of the labour workforce in the country.

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena pointed out that the Labour Ministry has taken steps to establish a comprehensive digitised database of the workforce and urged the ILO to assist in expediting the process.
This was discussed when ILO Country Director Simrin C. Singh and ILO Headquarters Senior Employment Specialist Sher Verick called on him at the Prime Minister’s Office this week.

The ILO received a first-hand briefing on the impact of the COVID pandemic and economic crisis on the labour workforce and the short-term and long-term steps taken by the government to recover the economy and to help the workers, especially the low-income labour force.

During the meeting, Singh pointed out that despite some signs of positive trends, most developing countries, including Sri Lanka, are faced with difficulties, due to global recession, limited fiscal space, debt sustainability challenges and rising inflation.

The premier asserted that the government is keen to make the labour workforce upwardly mobile and explained the multitude of training programmes launched for skill development.  The ILO delegation assured fullest support to all the efforts taken by the government for the well-being of the labour and measures for upgrading the skills of the workforce.