UNP National Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has set a new record by not generating any new jobs in ten years. People are leaving the country in search of employment and this has not happened before, he has added.

He made these observations at the UNP Kalutara District Coordinating Committee Meeting at Bandaragama.

Speaking further, he has also said that when Rajapaksa first became President, he said he could not generate jobs because he was engaged in the war and asked for a second term. He is now in his second term and the war ended in 2009.

Wickremesignhe said that the government should be questioned on the number of new jobs it has created.

"How many new industries have been established? Have there been any new services? Have there been any new computers? How many new trade zones were opened?" He asked. 

He alleged that nothing of this sort had happened before, stating that the government speaks about development when asked about the major issue of employment.