The number of employees in Sri Lanka’s public and semi-government sector institutions has surpassed 1,156,018.
According to the latest data from the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS), the estimated workforce across these sectors reached 1,156,018 by 2024, marking an increase of 46,543 compared to the 2016 census.
Of the total workforce, 50.5% are male, slightly higher than the proportion of female employees, which stands at 49.5%. The majority, 59.5%, are employed within the central government.
The report highlights that more females are employed in the provincial government compared to the central government. In fact, female employees in the provincial government sector are twice as many as males, while in the central and semi-government sectors, male employees outnumber females by more than two to one.
When comparing the public and semi-government sectors, nearly 80% of the workforce is employed in the public sector.
The data also reveals that around 97% of employees hold permanent positions, with only 3.7% categorized as temporary, casual, or contract-based workers.
In the public sector, over 97% of the workforce holds permanent jobs, whereas the proportion of permanent employees is slightly lower in the semi-government sector.
The DCS conducted this census by surveying approximately 32,500 employees across all public and semi-public sector institutions. However, the report notes that employees from affiliated institutions under semi-public organizations were not included in the enumeration.
