Sri Lanka’s Jobless Rate Drops to 3.8% in Q1 2025
- CNL Reporter
- August 12, 2025
- News
- Sri Lanka
- 0 Comments
Sri Lanka’s unemployment rate fell to 3.8% in the first quarter of 2025, from 4.3% a year earlier and 4.2% in the previous quarter, according to the Department of Census and Statistics. The employed population rose to 8.13 million from 7.90 million a year ago, adding nearly 238,000 jobs over the past 12 months.
The improvement follows a sharp rise in unemployment to 5.2% in mid-2023 during the peak of the country’s stabilization crisis after the 2022 currency collapse, which stalled construction and pushed many workers back to rural agriculture. With economic recovery, employment in industry grew to 2.15 million from 1.95 million, while services rose to 4.10 million from 3.91 million. Agricultural employment fell to 1.91 million from 2.04 million as more workers shifted to higher-paying sectors.
The crisis also drove hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans to seek jobs abroad, especially in countries with stable currencies and low inflation. The Central Bank’s deflationary policies since September 2022, along with a stronger rupee, have stabilized prices, restored real wages, and kept inflation at around 1%, aiding the labour market recovery.
