| dc.description.abstract |
Migration as a phenomenon is not new to Sri Lanka, with the exodus of professionals in the 60s causing the ‘brain drain’, and other types of migration such as settlement migration, refugee migration, free, and irregular migration. However, with the oil boom in the Middle East calling for contractual labour migrants to the Gulf countries, the Sri Lankan labour scenario, entered into a whole new phase, with over 200,000 migrants leaving the country annually. Foreign employment, achieved the status of an industry, necessitating the setting up of a dedicated Ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare, under which the Bureau of Foreign Employment was instituted. The article provides details of contractual employees gender wise, labour markets, annual outflow and trends in the industry. New policy developments in the destination countries, with a welcome development of bi lateral agreements and MOUs for streamlining the process, protecting rights and obligations of both employer and employee are detailed in the article. |
en_US |