Sri Lanka’s female labor force participation rate has seen a significant decline in recent years, as revealed by the latest Labor Force Survey report from the Department of Population and Statistics. According to Professor Wasantha Athukorala, Director of Postgraduate Studies in Humanities, Social Sciences, and Economics at the University of Peradeniya, the participation rate has dropped from 33.6% in 2018 to 29.6% by the first quarter of 2024.
The report further highlights that there are 6,620,684 economically active women in the country, with 1,130,571 residing in urban areas, 5,274,448 in rural areas, and 215,625 in the estate sector.
Professor Athukorala noted that Sri Lanka’s female labor force participation rate remains lower than in many other countries. He attributes this decline to several factors, including the lack of significant expansion in the service sector, job losses during the recent economic crisis, declining interest among women in the workforce, and various socio-cultural influences limiting women’s participation in the labor market.
