How employment leads to the mental satisfaction of the graduates of the arts stream of studies

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis negatively affected the Sri Lankan society for the last few years. This has created so many problems in the daily life of the citizens. Unemployment is one of the major problems in the Sri Lankan society. In 2020, the unemployment rate in Sri Lanka was 5.4%. But, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis, some members of the working community lost their conventional jobs and became unemployed. With the COVID-19 pandemic a lot of Sri Lankans have started working online and freelancing without waiting for opportunities for conventional employment. This study was conducted in July and August 2023 to analyze the current status of unemployment and the effects of employment on the mental satisfaction of the graduates of the arts stream of studies from the University of Kelaniya. A questionnaire was distributed randomly among those graduates. Responses from 50 individuals were collected and analyzed. The majority (84%) of the sample were females, while the rest were males. From the whole sample 76% of the individuals were employed while only 24% were unemployed. 56% of graduates were involved in full-time employment while the rest was involved in part-time employment. Of those part-time employees, only 22% received an income sufficient for their basic needs whereas the rest was suffering from financial difficulties. Among them, 64% were not satisfied with their income. The majority (64%) were suffering from stress resulting from their employment. According to the results, 64% of the test subjects were found to be satisfied with their employment. These results depended on their level of perception and understanding of the concept of happiness and mental satisfaction.