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The other side of the coin after peace in the north
The Fussy Labour in Jaffna
By Muttukrishna Sarvananthan
When a private light engineering firm in Jaffna called for applications
to fill a few vacancies no applications were received. On the other
hand, according to the District Secretary Ms. Imelda Sukumar, when the
local agriculture department called for applications to fill one hundred
(100) vacancies it received nearly eleven thousand (11,000)
applications. This is the paradox of the labour market in Jaffna and the
North. The aversion to seek employment in the private sector is not only
a malaise in Jaffna, but a nationwide malaise. A survey of youths
undertaken by a team comprising Prof. Siri Hettige, et al, in 2009
revealed that about seventy percent (70%) of youths throughout the
country (including the North East) was seeking employment in the public
sector.
The Jaffna District Secretariat is inundated with applications for jobs
from graduates. Imelda Sukumar highlighted that there are 26,000 young
widows in the district whose livelihood needs to be ensured. Lack of
employment opportunities and livelihoods is resulting in intra-household
violence, social tensions, and crimes, particularly against women and
children. She also said there is no plan for the reintegration of the
former combatants into the society.
The obsession with public sector employment is one of the primary
reasons for higher levels of unemployment and underemployment in the
district compared to the country as a whole. On the other hand,
according to Dr. Balasundarampillai (former Vice Chancellor of the
University of Jaffna), not a single candidate out of the 269 graduates
who sat the competitive examinations held recently for recruitment to
the Sri Lanka Administrative Service (SLAS) passed. The puzzle is that
the unemployed and underemployed youths of Jaffna (particularly
graduates) are seeking jobs in the public sector that are beyond their
capability. This is a severe indictment of the local university that
churns out unemployable graduates.
Government jobs
The political reality and administrative irrationality is that
eventually these unemployable graduates will be absorbed into the public
sector, thereby further depleting the standards and quality of public
services. Thus, a vicious circle of poor quality of graduates and poor
standards and quality of public services will become entrenched; which
inevitably results in poor governance at the local level and beyond.
Dr. Balasundarampillai said that though the production in agriculture
and fisheries has increased a lot, it has not created many jobs. The
rapidly growing financial sector is incapable of generating large number
of jobs he pointed out. There are growing numbers of over-60s people
seeking re-employment thereby accentuating the problem of unemployment
and underemployment in Jaffna he also said. Mr. Rajkumar (Bachelor of
Arts in Community and Regional Planning) said that seeking government
jobs was part of the “culture of Jaffna” and stressed the importance of
human resource planning by the government.
Caste was identified as an institutional barrier for labour mobility
among different occupations in the Jaffna peninsula. The caste system is
based on the jobs certain groups of people do. For example, the job of
priests at Hindu temples is exclusively reserved for Brahmins, which is
the highest caste in the Hindu hierarchical system. Similarly, jobs
associated with the palmyrah tree (toddy tapping, sweets made out of
palmyrah fruits and stems, and handicrafts and decorations made out of
palmyrah leaves and stems, etc), and fishing are reserved for people of
a particular caste.
The occupational possessiveness is such that the Palmyrah Development
Board would not be allowed to be headed by a person from any other
caste. The construction sector in Jaffna, one of the thriving sectors in
post-war reconstruction and development, is negatively affected by lack
of masons, carpenters, etc, as a result of caste rigidity that restricts
entry into these occupations by persons of other caste/s. Such
monopolisation of certain occupations severely restricts labour mobility
at times of labour shortage in those occupations. Therefore,
“constructive destruction” (in the words of Karl Marx) or “creative
destruction” (in the words of Joseph Schumpeter) of caste-based
occupational structure is sine qua non for establishing a competitive
labour market in Jaffna.
Foreign remittances were insinuated as another critical factor
distorting the labour market by raising the daily wage rates or monthly
salaries over and above the market determined rates. Businesspersons
pointed out that while not many were applying for advertised jobs in the
private sector, youths could be seen roaming around the streets in their
motorbikes with cell phones throughout the day. The fact that cell
phones and motorbikes have become necessary accessories of large number
of unemployed or underemployed youths is a direct result of foreign
remittances flowing from kith and kin abroad. Absenteeism,
non-punctuality, frequent sick reporting, and taking leave for fasting
(gowri viratham, kanthasashty viratham, etc) are some of the labour
problems faced by empoyers.
Some private sector employers have hired former combatants as their
social responsibility. However, the requirement that former combatants
report periodically (2-4 times a month) to army camps that are far away
from their places of employment or residence is hindering hiring of
former combatants for employment by the private sector.
Former combatants who live and work in Jaffna are required to report to
army camps in Mullaitivu or Kilinochchi, which involves long journey.
The private sector employers opined that such leave of absence is a
significant loss to their business. Besides, visits of intelligence
personnel to work sites of ex-combatants are demoralising to the latter
and instilling a sense of fear among their workmates.
Pushed out from formal sector
Moreover, the Labour Department appears to be selectively taking-on
private sector employers as regards payment of EPF and ETF after long
years of idling. However, once some employers begin deducting EPF and
ETF contributions from the salaries of their employees such employees
are leaving their current employers (because of the drop in their
take-home pay) to join employers who do not deduct EPF and ETF
contributions. Thus, employees are pushed-out from the formal sector to
the informal sector. This practice is also distorting the labour market
in Jaffna.
In summary, the obsession with public sector employment, poor quality of
academic knowledge and life skills imparted at schools, universities,
and higher education institutions, archaic caste-based occupational
structure, and foreign remittances were identified as some of the
primary causes of unemployment and underemployment in the North.
Besides, this author’s observation is that primarily state-driven
post-war development strategy in the North has led to economic growth
with less than optimal employment creation because the public sector is
saturated as regards employment opportunities as a result of the bloated
bureaucracy, overgrown armed forces, and tight fiscal space.
The foregoing was the outcome of an Despite our invitation to the local
Labour Department and the Muslim Community to present their views on the
topic, unfortunately they could not make avail of themselves at the Open
Forum. Attempts to get a former combatant to talk about perceived labour
market discrimination against them did not bear fruit.
Point Pedro Institute of Development, Point Pedro http://pointpedro.org
Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Colombo http://fessrilanka.org
Thanks :
Lakbimanews.lk
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