An investigation into skilled labour requirement in Sri Lankan building construction industry

Abstract

The construction industry, being predominantly labour intensive, heavily relies on the adequate supply of workforce and their skills. With the speedy growth of Sri Lankan construction industry after the ethnic war, demand for skilled workforce has been increased. The overall aim of this research is to analyse the present situation of skilled labourers in Sri Lankan building construction industry with respect to skill trades, in order to address the timely need of the present and future context of the industry. The research was conducted using a questionnaire surveys among project managers in the building construction industry. The questionnaire survey was carried out to identify the significant skill trades and to investigate the current status of the skills and future required skills. Further, the questionnaire used to identify the skill shortage in building construction industry. Skills related to service installation was identified as significant as the skills related to structural construction. However, the current status of the most of the skill trades is that these are not sufficient to fulfil the demand of the industry, except for bricklaying and plastering. The future supply of the skills also indicated an unbalanced level in likely demand and likely supply of skills. Hence, the government, industry and construction companies are having a responsibility of addressing the shortfall. It is also important to consider more training schemes and attractive remunerations with benefits to create a positive attitude towards the building construction industry among migrants and young generation in Sri Lanka.