Nov 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka Ministry of Labor has taken steps to bring new regulations to register all the manpower agencies in the island.

A Ministry study has revealed that the majority of the manpower agencies pay employees a minimal daily wage while they charge several fold of that from the employer.

Over two million workers are employed in these manpower agencies at present. They are wide spread in sectors like janitor services, security services, domestic services, eateries, shops, construction industry, transport and internet jobs, the Ministry says. Hire and fire services have become popular in clerical services as well recently, sources say.

The employees work on a daily basis without any job security. The agencies do not pay for the private sector retirement funds Employees Provident Fund and Employees Trust Fund for these employees.