Sri Lankan labour migration to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries is a cornerstone of the Sri Lankan economy, employing over 1.3 million workers in sectors like construction, domestic services, and hospitality. Over 75% of all officially recorded foreign employment departures from Sri Lanka head to the Middle East, with Gulf states serving as the primary employers. Historically female-dominated, the workforce demographic has changed in recent years, indicating that male workers now comprise about 60% of total departures, driven by demand in the construction, service, and technical sectors.
The past few years have witnessed a policy shift, with Sri Lanka actively promoting skilled labour migration to reduce dependency on low-skilled jobs and boost national development. Through updated policy frameworks, there is an aim to transition its workforce into the global talent pool while supporting return and reintegration.
In 2023, CIR launched “Reporting for Change on Skilled Migration,” an initiative that brought together journalists from across Sri Lanka to strengthen reporting on skilled labour migration and its impact on individuals, families, and the national economy.
Following specialized training and mentoring, journalists published 32 stories that explored a wide range of topics linked to skilled migration, including policy shifts, demand for skilled migrant workers, success stories, training opportunities, increased capacity for return and reintegration, family support systems, and the challenges associated with low-skilled migration. The stories were published in Sinhala, Tamil, and English across print, online, radio, and visual media platforms.
The program exceeded its original publication target and demonstrated the value of informed, evidence-based journalism in shaping public understanding on international labour migration.
Featured Stories
- ‘Skilled’ migration: Short-term problem and long-term solution by Sumudu Chamara
- දැන ගියොත් පිටරට- නොදැන ගියොත් පාරට! by Harsha Sugathadasa
- රට ගිහින් හම්බකරගෙන ආවට පස්සේ අනාථ වන ජිවිත by Sakeef Sam
- අතරමං නොවී, විශ්වාසයෙන් එතෙර යන මග by Soba Kolyawansa
- රට රස්සාවලට එතෙර ගොස් අතරමං වන නුපුහුණු ශ්‍රමිකයන්ගේ ඛේදවාචකය by Indika Garusinghe
- Are We Adopting a Prudent Overseas Placement Strategy? by Mithun Jayawardhana
- 2019 සිට 2023 දක්වා කාලය තුලදී විදෙස් රටවලදී මියගිය හා විවිධ අනතුරුවලට ලක්වූ විදෙස් ශ්‍රමිකයන්ගෙන් 84%ක් නිසි පුහුණුවක් නොලබා විදේශගත වූ පිරිස් by Rahul Samantha Hettiarachchi
- ஆணி உற்பத்தியாளராகிய புலம்பெயர் தொழிலாளி : ‘புதுத்திறனால் சாதித்த யாழ்.வாசி’ by R. Ramkumar
- பயிற்சிகளற்ற புலம்பெயர்வுகளால் சிதைக்கப்படும் எதிர்காலம் by Nivetha Arichandran
- தொடரும் பேரவலத்தில் – புலம்பெயர் தொழிலாளர் by R. Maheswary
- பறந்து பறந்து உழைத்தாலும் இன்னும் பரித்தாப நிலைதான் by Sritharkumar Nilushan
- “பயிற்சிகள் பெற்றாலும் அவஸ்தைகள் இன்னும் தொலையவில்லை by K. Prasnnakumar
- தொழில் தகைமை எதுவுமின்றி வெளிநாட்டு வேலைவாய்ப்புக்குச் செல்வது விஷப்பரீட்சை! By Vasantha Mary
- தொடரும் குறைதிறன் ; புலம்பெயர் தொழிலாளர்களின் இன்னல்… விதிவிலக்காய் சிலர் ! by Vadamalai Rajkumar
- නිපුණත්වය තුලින් එතෙර ජයගමු. – දවසේ අවධානය by Ajith Wasantha Epa
- බෝට්ටුවෙන් රට යන්න කලින් දෙපාරක් හිතන්න by Mangalanath Liyanaarachchi
- Yanna Yanna Dura Gamanak A Documentary on Skilled Migration in Sri Lanka by Christy Shelton Fernando
- ඉතාලියත් ලංකාවත් ජයගත් චමිලගේ කතාව by Farook Suhail
- මොනවටද රට යැවුවේ | හොර පාරෙන් රට ගිය තරුණයන්ට වැඩ වරදී | දෙමව්පියන් පොලිසියත් එක්ක පැටලෙයි by Roshan Gunasekara
- බෝට්ටුවෙන් ඉතාලි යන්න ගිහින් මොකද වුනේ by Prasad Purnamal
- විදෙස් රැකියාවෙන් ජයගත් මහයියාවේ මනෝන්මනී by Ruwan Meegammana
- විදෙස් ගත වී, අසරණ වන කාන්තාවන්ගේ දුක්ගැනවිලි by Chandani Dissanayaka
- அக்குறணையிலிருந்து மத்திய கிழக்குக்கு தொழில் தேடிச் செல்வோரின் நிலை என்ன? by Irfan Cader
- නිපුනතාවය නිසාම ලොවක් ජයගත් රත්නපුරයේ ඩස්මන්. By Jude Samantha
- වවුනියාවේ විදෙස් රැකියා සදහා ගිය 23ක් විදේශයන්හි සිර වෙලා. නිසි කුසලතා සංවර්ධනයකින් තොරව නිත්‍යානුකුල නොවන අයුරින් විදෙස්ගත වන්න එපා – විදේශ සේවා නියුක්ති කාර්යාංශය by Prasanna Pradeep Kumara
- ගැහැණුන් දෙදෙනෙක් – එකම ඉරණමක්: ක්ෂුද්‍ර මූල්‍ය ණය උගුලේ පැටළී විදෙස්ගත වූ ඔවුන් අද by Radika Gunaratne
- සංක්‍රමණික ශ්‍රමිකයන්ට තරුණයෙකුගෙන් පණිවිඩයක් !සැලසුම් කළොත් ජීවිතය ජයගන්න පුළුවන් ! by Lalantha Wanniarachchi
- முறையான வெளிநாட்டு பயணமும் தொழில்திறனும் இருந்தால் வேலை வாய்ப்பு வழங்கலாம் by H. M. Halaldeen
- புலம்பெயர்வில் புதுத்திறன் வளர்த்து உள்நாட்டில் தொழில் வழங்கும் ஓவியன் by Mohomad Farik
- නිපුණතා සහිත ශ්‍රමිකයන්ගේ අඩුපාඩුව සහ ප්‍රතිලාභ by Dini Jayasekara
- කරදර නොවී විදේශ රැකියාවකට යමු by Nimal Abeysinghe
- ආර්ථික අර්බුදය හමුවේ විදෙස් රැකියා හීන මවන මහනුවර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ තරුණයන් by Nadeeka Daya Bandara
