Dr Sarath Obeysekera

From Labour Export to Industrial Growth

Why Are Our Young People Leaving? Reflections on Migration, Industry, and Sri Lanka’s Future

While listening to a popular radio station broadcasting lively baila music enjoyed by many young people, I heard a cheerful young announcer promoting foreign employment opportunities.

The advertisement encouraged young Sri Lankans to seek overseas jobs as cooks, nurses, motorcycle riders, masons, carpenters, steel bar benders, construction helpers, hairdressers, and many other professions (with the obvious exception of spa workers!). It was striking that several recruitment agencies based in Kurunegala were prominently featured.

Kurunegala is the heart of a region surrounded by numerous towns and villages where thousands of young people, after completing their Ordinary Level examinations, are deciding whether to continue their education or seek employment abroad in the hope of earning valuable foreign exchange.

My concern is this: why are we so eager to export one of our country’s most valuable resources—our skilled and energetic youth?

Recently, I spoke to the head of a shipyard who told me they urgently need more than one hundred welders, fabricators, and pipe fabricators. Despite offering employment, they cannot find suitably skilled workers because many have already left the country.

This is exactly why we need a national strategy to retain our skilled workforce.

How can this be achieved?

The answer is to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) into productive industries that create well-paid jobs in Sri Lanka. Manufacturing, shipbuilding, offshore engineering, marine services, renewable energy, precision engineering, and digital technology industries should be actively encouraged.

I recently read a newspaper report in which the BOI highlighted plans to establish international schools, hospitals, and other service-oriented developments in Port City. While such projects have their place, they do not provide the long-term industrial transformation and large-scale employment opportunities that Sri Lanka desperately needs.

Instead, we should be bringing industries to Sri Lanka—not exporting our young people.

Countries such as China and Vietnam have invested heavily in technical education, manufacturing, engineering, and digital skills. They have developed highly capable professionals in advanced technologies. Sri Lanka should follow a similar path by training our youth to become world-class engineers, technicians, software developers, AI specialists, and digital innovators—not allowing their talents to be lost through migration.

Unfortunately, we still lack a clear long-term vision for both industrial development and advanced digital skills training.

The greatest irony is that Sri Lankan taxpayers finance the education of these young men and women, only for other countries to benefit from their skills and productivity.

Rather than exporting our future, Sri Lanka must create an economy where our youth can build rewarding careers at home while contributing to national prosperity.

Only then will we truly benefit from the investment we make in educating our next generation.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera