COLOMBO, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's total employment rate among people aged 15 and above in 2025 was 96.1 percent, a 0.5 percentage point increase from the previous year, the Department of Census and Statistics said in its latest report released on Tuesday.
The Sri Lanka Labor Force Survey 2025 showed that the country's unemployment rate stood at 3.9 percent in the year, representing about 329,000 people who are currently looking for job opportunities.
Female unemployment was 6.1 percent, more than twice the 2.8 percent rate recorded among men.
In the meantime, more than 8.6 million Sri Lankans in that age group were outside the labor force in the year, accounting for about 50.6 percent of the population, while the labor force participation rate stood at 49.4 percent.
Those not in the labor force include full-time students, retirees, stay-at-home parents, and other groups that are not actively seeking employment.
Women made up the majority of those outside the labor force, with about 6.19 million women compared with 2.44 million men.
The labor force participation rate was 69.1 percent for men and 32.4 percent for women.
The age 15 is the standard minimum threshold to measure global labor statistics adopted by the International Labour Organization. ■
