Minister of Finance and Mass Media Mangala Samaraweera says that time has come to stop the youth depending on politicians for employment.
He made these comments at the opening of several Enterprise Sri Lanka Desks in the Matara district yesterday.
The Minister said that the government has no job vacancies at present and State-run offices are in fact overstaffed. According to him an office that only may require a 1,000 staff often has around 3,000. Calling the providing of government jobs in such a circumstance a ‘sin’, the Minister confessed that he too is a part of this unmeritorious act.
“It has become a reason for government departments incur losses and fail,” he said adding that, therefore, the era of youth lining up at the doors of politicians seeking employment must end. Samaraweera also pointed out that despite the many opportunities in the private sector including labour jobs that pay higher salaries than in the middle east many youth are ashamed of taking these on. “If locals are not keen to take up these jobs we may have to hire labour from countries such as India, China and Myanmar,” he warned.