The economic, demographic, sociocultural and political setting for emigration from Sri Lanka.

Abstract

This study of emigration from Sri Lanka is introduced by a brief review of the situation during the colonial period and an overview of recent migration experience. The second section of the paper deals with data collection and sources for labor migration, political migration, and estimates of total net migration. The third section looks at economic and demographic trends in terms of the growth of the economy, population growth and social well-being, the growth of the labor force, unemployment, the structure of the work force, internal migration and access to agricultural lands, and income distribution and poverty. The sociocultural setting is then explored by considering exposure to the international environment, ethnicity and cultural affinity, the formation of information and job placement networks, the supportive role of the family, and the impact of success and failure. Moving on the influence of the political setting, the paper then discusses the government policy of foreign employment promotion as well as the influence of political developments on migration. In conclusion, the paper notes that future demand for domestic service workers will likely increase, and that Sri Lanka will continue to have a surplus of workers to fill this demand until the end of the 1990s, when a tightening domestic labor market and increased real wages will ease the push for migration. Political factors will continue to favor migration, however, unless a liberal democratic regime becomes the governing force in Sri Lanka.