Sri Lanka Country Report

Abstract

The foreign employment industry has become the highest net earner of foreign exchange in the country. Female migrants largely dominated in the domestic workers category until the late 2000s when male migration started increasing. The country has shown a ten fold increase in number of migrants during the last two decades. The factors leading to migration are; for settlement (skilled personnel); economic (low skilled) ; political ; educational . Migration for employment escalated after 1976 with the decisions taken at the Non Aligned Conference to increase labour opportunities in West Asia, and further increased with the liberalization of economic policies in 1977.