Abstract:
The employment conditions in Sri Lanka are at the optimal in statistics for a period of
time since independence. According to the Central Bank statistics, the employment rate is
95.3% while the labor force participation rate is 53.3% in 2014. Sri Lanka is now
experiencing the lowest unemployment rate in comparison to previous periods. But, it does
not mean that the labor force is performing perfectly. Even though, there are no major issues
in Sri Lankan labor markets today, it is expected such issues in future which will result
unfavorably from the Human Resource Management perspective. That hidden issue is
emphasized as the gender imbalance in Sri Lankan labor markets which simply means
women participation rate to the labor force is gradually increasing while men participation
rate is slightly decreasing. This is a review paper which investigates the reasons affecting to
this gender imbalance in Sri Lankan labor markets, analyzing the employment contribution
by gender in Sri Lankan economy, future trends in economy's labor force. Further, this
features the role of Human Resource professionals and the strategies to be adopted in
addressing the aforesaid imbalance. This paper fostered with the information obtained by
secondary sources and this is the first review carried out in emphasizing such an issue in Sri
Lankan labor force blending with the HRM perspective.
