Abstract:
Youth unemployment has been recognized as a serious problem in Sri Lanka since the
1960's"[l]. In the labour market, youth experience discrimination and inequalities due to
different factors such as class and status, geography and sector, gender, ethnicity and
physical or mental disabilities. According to a recent study from the Ministry of Tertiary
Education and Training "about 73% who had passed out as graduates were
unemployed"! 10], Thus unemployment is a pressing problem in the country even among the
"educated".
Annually, around 150,000 youths enter the labour market: Hence, unless there are realistic
sustainable development programmes, unemployment is bound to increase, exacerbating the
present socio-economic problems in the country.
