Sri Lanka’s Central Bank responding to the media reports that refereed to the employment numbers reported in the Bank’s Annual Reports of 2014, 2015 and 2016, has issued a clarification of the data.
According to the Central Bank, subsequent to the Census of Population and Housing (CPH) 2012 conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) covering the entire island, the Registrar General’s Department introduced changes to the Mid-Year Population Estimates (MYPE) and published a revised series.
Accordingly, in July 2016, the Labor Force Survey (LFS) estimates were re-weighted by the DCS and a new series was published for data pertaining to the years from 2011 onwards.
The Central Bank said this is the general practice in all other countries and it maintains the consistency of LFS estimates with the revised MYPE.
The Central Bank accommodated the details of the re-weighted LFS estimates including the “Number Employed” in its Annual Report 2016. A comparable series of LFS from 2013 onwards can be accessed in the Appendix Tables 56 and 57 of the CBSL Annual Report 2016 in addition to the details available in the DCS publications.
The LFS details, before re-weighting and after re-weighting, is presented below for the information of general public.
The Central Bank issued the clarification after the former Governor of Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal questioned the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s claim that 400,000 new jobs created within the two years of this government.
In an article to the Media former governor citing the employment numbers of the annual reports for the years 2014, 2015, and 2016 said the “authorities have revised previously-announced absolute numbers in an unprofessional and inexplicable manner to somehow show an increase in the number of jobs.”
