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Browsing Project Reports by Author "Gunasekera, Neluka"

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    Living Wage Report Sri Lanka Estate Sector
    (2023-07-11) Thibbotuwawa, Manoj; Jayawardena, Priyanka; Arunatilake, Nisha; Gunasekera, Neluka
    This report estimates a living wage for the workers in the estate sector (tea plantation industry) in Sri Lanka in December 2015. The study uses the Anker methodology to estimate the living wage (Anker, 2005; Anker & Anker, 2017). This methodology has been widely used in developing countries to estimate living wages internationally. This methodology has been used to estimate living wages in urban, rural, and non-metropolitan urban settings for the GLWC with 23 living wage estimates published or scheduled for publishing in the next two months, spanning geographies in 13 countries. This work is an expansion of earlier work by the Ankers in urban areas for a multi-national corporation spanning ten countries. Our take-home pay net living wage estimates for tea pluckers for December 2015 in the estate sector in Sri Lanka is LKR 19,126 per month and LKR 21,585 gross living wage per month after adding mandatory deductions. Our living wage estimates are much higher than the official poverty line wage for Sri Lanka (LKR 8,236) and the PPP adjusted World Bank extreme poverty line wage (LKR 6,170). Most importantly, our living wage is well above the World Bank poverty line of $3.1 per day wage per month (LKR 10,067). It is clear that both the Sri Lankan official poverty line wage and World Bank poverty lines wages are too low to provide sufficient income to afford a basic living wage. The gross living wage estimate is considerably higher than the current wage given by the existing cash wage salary package of the tea pluckers, which we estimate is equivalent to LKR 16,022 per month. The final prevailing wage after considering in-kind benefits (LKR 16,971) still leaves a monthly wage gap of LKR 4,613 (LKR 185/day) relative to our estimated living wage of LKR 21,585. Finding this difference is not surprising as estate sector workers have traditionally been considered as one of the poorest communities in Sri Lanka, having low living conditions. Even though, there have been significant improvements over the years, the living conditions of the tea estate community are still not up to standard, in spite of recent wage improvements.
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    The Sri Lankan Labour Market
    (2023-07-11) Arunatilake, Nisha; Gunasekera, Neluka; Jayawardena, Priyanka; Madurawala, Sunimalee
    This report analyses the labour market trends in Sri Lanka from 2006 onwards. The report finds that the country’s labour force growth is slowing down and soon, it will start to decline. The job growth in the country has not kept up with economic growth. The jobs that were created were mostly low skilled jobs. In order to stay competitive, increase productivity and attract and retain workers, the country needs improve job creation, especially for higher skilled workers, and reduce disparities in the market.
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