A staggering 497,302 vacancies was recorded last year in the country, as per statistics provided by the first-ever survey on labour demand, conducted by Department of Census and Statistics (DCS).
Of this, the highest number of vacancies reported were in the services sector (177,813) with the industry sector ranking second (175,250).
This amounts to 35.8 percent and 35.2 percent of total sector wise vacancies respectively.
The lowest number of vacancies was in the plantation industry - 3,033.
According to the report, sewing machine operators are the most in demand, with 77,189 vacancies, which is 15.5 percent of the total number of vacancies. Security guards follow next, with 57,008 vacancies, which is 11.5 percent of the total number of vacancies.
The recruitment sewing machine operators has decreased by 0.24 percent from 2015 to 2016.
According to the report, approximately five million people are employed in the private sector.
The survey was conducted using a sample of 3,500 firms covering the whole country, with private sector firms employing more than three people as the target population.
Department of Census and Statistics, Director General, Dr A.J. Satharasinghe noted that the survey was conducted to identify the change in labour demand, influenced by new technological developments.