Mar 04, Colombo: An estate sector trade union in Sri Lanka says that workers in the sector were moving out of the industry trying to look for better employment due to the increase in the cost of living.

General Secretary of the Lanka Jathika Estate Workers Union, K. Velayutham has said that plantation workers are the worst affected by the increasing cost of living.

He has observed that there has been a considerable reduction in estate workers in the country.

Velayutham pointed out that while there were approximately 220,000 plantation workers, now there are only 170,000 workers.

According to Velayutham, the decline is due to the low income earned by them.

He has explained that the increase in food and transport costs were the main reason for estate sector workers to move out of the industry.