New rules to encourage public sector employees take up foreign employment

The government is planning to issue new regulations to encourage public sector workers to take up employment overseas in an attempt to increase foreign exchange inflows to the country and also to reduce the burden on State coffers.

As the first step, Cabinet Co-Spokesperson and Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara announced that the government is planning to send healthcare workers abroad who are in high demand in Europe and Japan with their ageing populations.

“The Health Ministry is working on formulating required rules to encourage health sector employees to take up overseas employment opportunities. There are some issues such as seniority that have to be looked into.The Public Administration Ministry will issue a circular separately,” he said.

The Minister of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government, Dinesh Gunawardena is expected to brief the Cabinet of Ministers shortly on the initiative in detail including the targeted groups of government employees.

According to the Central Bank, total public sector employment rose to 1.493 million at the end of 2021 compared to 1.461 million in 2020. As a result, combined with wage increases, expenditure on salaries and wages of the public sector in the State budget increased by Rs. 51.5 billion to Rs. 845.7 billion in 2021 compared to Rs. 794.2 billion in 2020. 

Overall, expenditure on salaries and wages for 2021 accounted for 58  percent of State revenue, while making up 30.8 percent of the total recurrent expenditure.