1.1 million Employees in Public and Semi Government Sector

November 15, 2024

Economy

1.1 million Employees in Public and Semi Government Sector

July 10, 2018

The final report on the census on the Public and Semi-Government Sector Employment, conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics on the 17th of November 2016, was released on the 9th of July 2018 at the Auditorium of the Department of Census and Statistics. The first copy of this report was presented to the Chief Guest of the event, Secretary of the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, Mr. K D S Ruwanchandra, by the Director General of the Department of Census and Statistics, Dr. Amara Satharasinghe.

The first scientifically conducted census on the Employment of the Public and Semi-Government Sector was held in 1980, followed by Censuses in 1985, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, and 2016. Even though this census has been conducted by the Ministry of Public Administration even before 1980, it has only been a head count based on payroll information of the employment in the Public Sector.

According to the current census, 1,109,475 people excluding the uniformed staff of the Sri Lankan Army, Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Air Force have been employed in the Public and SemiGovernment Sectors as of 17th November 2016. Among these employees, 65.3% hold positions in the Central Government and 34.7% hold positions in the Provincial Councils. Of all employees enumerated above , 485,471 belong to the Public Sector of the Central Government, 380,198 to the Public Sector of the Provincial Councils and 243,806 to the Semi-Government Sector of both Central and Provincial Governments.

According to the information revealed from this census, 55.1 % of the employees are male while 44.9% are female. When considering the Central Government and the Provincial Public Sector separately, there are clear differences in these percentages: in the Provincial Public Sector, 61.6% are female, whereas in the Central Government, the majority (64%) are male.

In this census, the information gathered on the educational qualifications of the Public and SemiGovernment Sector employees shows that approximately 35% have passed the G.C.E. (Advanced Level) examination. Similarly, one in four (26.2%) of Public and Semi Government Sector employees hold degrees. Of the roughly 290,000 degree holders, more than half (approximately 54%) have obtained their basic degree in the Arts Stream. Likewise, roughly 14% have obtained degrees in Management/Commerce Stream while about 10% from the Science Stream.

Information on Public and Semi-Government Sector Employees' Information Technology knowledge and usage was also recorded. As revealed by this census, 66.8% of employees (approximately 741,000) have the ability to use computers, while roughly 404,000 employees use computers to carry out their official duties. Approximately 56.3% of Public and Semi-Government Sector Employees use the Internet, while 38.4% use electronic mail.

Representatives from many government institutions such as the Presidential Secretariat, Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Public Administration, Management and Law & Order, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Department of Management Services, Finance Commission, National Pay Commission, Labour Department and National Planning Department were present at this occasion.