Friday Dec 27, 2024
Friday Dec 27, 2024
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By Charumini de Silva
In an attempt to give due recognition to foreign workers’ contribution to economic development, the Government has decided to launch the long-awaited pension scheme next month.
“A pension scheme for foreign workers has been in the cards for many years, but it never materialised due to various reasons. We have finally come up with a mechanism and it is a contributory scheme. Plans are underway to implement it from next month onwards,” Labour and Foreign Employment Minister Manusha Nanayakkara told the Daily FT.
As per the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE), over 1.2 million are working aboard at present.
He said the pension scheme is implemented with the support of the Sri Lanka Social Security Board, which operates under the purview of the Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies Ministry.
The salient benefits granted in the scheme include; the facility to pay subscriptions in foreign currency, SLBFE will contribute 5% at the age of 60 years to appreciate their contribution to the economic development, and if the person dies while being employed the amount falls short to the contributions to obtain the pension will be covered by the SLBFE.
“We must understand that not only these foreign employees are sending money back to the economy, but they also reduce the domestic expenditure per capita by migrating to another country and help to minimise the unemployment rate in the country. These are some of the key factors most policymakers did not realise in implementing such an important initiative – pension scheme,” he explained.
Minister Nanayakkara also revealed that they were in the process of introducing another scheme for the retired Sri Lankan diaspora.
“There is a huge Sri Lankan diaspora spread across the world and most of them are entitled to a pension in those respective countries. Lately, they have expressed interest to relocate themselves to Sri Lanka with their due retirement income. As there is no permanent mechanism to cater to them, we are trying to negotiate with respective Governments on how they could be assisted,” he pointed out.
Workers’ remittances saw a rebound in August reaching $ 325 million, the highest level so far in 2022. August saw a 16% or $ 46 million increase over July. However, it is lower than $ 446.6 million worth of inflow in August last year. For the first eight months of 2022, workers’ remittances amounted to $ 2.2 billion, down by 47.6%.
The Minister also outlined that the Labour Department and the SLBFE are working together to explore several mechanisms to broad-base the categories for foreign employment opportunities. “We have continuous dialogues with various governments to explore overseas job opportunities. It is already being conducted via our foreign missions, and we have also ensured that at least one or two officials representing SLBFE are stationed to promote and to facilitate Sri Lankans working in those countries,” he added.
As per the SLBFE, a total of 208,772 individuals have left to take up employment overseas during the first eight months of 2022. Among those who left the country for jobs in other countries so far, over 126,000 were males.
It also said the number of people leaving overseas for employment is steadily increasing.
Noting that it was important to understand the overseas job market, the Minister said it is equally important to have the capacities of skilled labourers to take up these opportunities.
“There are several strategic moves that are in the planning stage. We are discussing with line Ministries and institutions how vocational training, language proficiency, and skillsets could be developed to cater to the demands. There are around 7,000 to 8,000 school dropouts at the Ordinary Level (O/L) examination.
“So, these kids could be trained for job opportunities that are demanded by those countries. Certain subjects could be included in the school curriculum to create interest. Hopefully, we will be able to implement them from next year onwards,” Nanayakkara stressed.
Earlier this week, the Minister upwardly revised the target for 2022 from 300,000 workers to 330,000, citing high demand both on the part of job seekers and the labour-receiving countries.
The Government is hoping to send at least 5,000 people by the end of the year to take up employment in South Korea, whilst noting that a total of 2,858 individuals have already left for South Korea for jobs this year.
