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From a record 11 year high of 5.8% in the 3rd Quarter of 2020 the unemployment rate in Sri Lanka recorded a drop of 0.6% to retain 5.2% in the 4th Quarter of  2020. The drop in the rate coincides with the economic recovery following the  steep down turn caused by the Co-vid 19 pandemic.  

The information released shows slight improvements in certain employment  avenues while on the other hands the statistics also show a decrease in the  avenues of employment such as Industry and Service in comparison to the  previous year of 2019. 

Despite the drop in the unemployment rate the total number of employed  individuals recorded in the 4th quarter of 2020 was a lower sum of 8.03 million  in comparison to the 8.18 million employed individuals recorded in 2019.  

A significant increase in the number of employed individuals in the agriculture  sector was seen as it rose from 2.21 million individuals in 2019 to over 2.33  million individuals in the 4th quarter of 2020.  

The industrial and service sector employment statistics showed a drop in the  number of employed individuals in the field in comparison to the previous 2019  year. The industrial sector recorded 2.1 million in comparison to the 2019 value  of 2.19 million and the service sector recorded 3.59 million in comparison to the  2019 value of 3.7 million individuals employed. 

The Central Bank recorded through the Sri Lanka Purchasing Managers Index  that the new hires had started taking place in 2021 following the second wave of  Corona virus that resurfaced in October 2020. However with the expected 3rd wave following the Sinhala and Tamil New Year the economy is expected to slow  down once again piling on Sri Lanka’s already slow economic growth which has  faltering since 2012 due to monetary instability and the current restrictions of  trade.