In 2024, the unemployment rate in Saint Lucia was 10.93 percent. Between 1991 and 2024, the figure dropped by 5.57 percentage points, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

Unemployment with basic education (% of total labor force with basic education) in St Lucia was reported at 15.41 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. St Lucia - Unemployment with basic education (% of total unemployment) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.

Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (national estimate) in St Lucia was reported at 12.09 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. St Lucia - Unemployment, total (national estimate) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

Graph and download economic data for Youth Unemployment Rate for St. Lucia (SLUEM1524ZSLCA) from 1991 to 2024 about St. Lucia, 15 to 24 years, unemployment, and rate.

The youth unemployment rate in Saint Lucia amounted to 29.03 percent in 2024. Between 1991 and 2024, the youth unemployment rate rose by 2.94 percentage points, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend.

Saint Lucia: Unemployment rate: The latest value from 2024 is 10.93 percent, a decline from 11.09 percent in 2023. In comparison, the world average is 6.80 percent, based on data from 176 countries. Historically, the average for Saint Lucia from 1991 to 2024 is 18 percent. The minimum value, 10.93 percent, was reached in 2024 while the maximum of 25.22 percent was recorded in 2020.

Unemployment with advanced education, female (% of female labor force with advanced education) in St Lucia was reported at 6.509 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. St Lucia - Unemployment with advanced education, female - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on August of 2025.

United States - Youth Unemployment Rate for St. Lucia was 29.03% in January of 2024, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Youth Unemployment Rate for St. Lucia reached a record high of 51.64 in January of 2020 and a record low of 25.07 in January of 2008. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Youth Unemployment Rate for St. Lucia - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on July of 2025.

Saint Lucia LC: Unemployment Rate data was reported at 29.791 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 21.000 % for 2004. Saint Lucia LC: Unemployment Rate data is updated yearly, averaging 18.100 % from Dec 1995 (Median) to 2015, with 11 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 29.791 % in 2015 and a record low of 16.300 % in 1996. Saint Lucia LC: Unemployment Rate data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s St. Lucia – Table LC.IMF.IFS: Labour Force, Employment and Unemployment: Annual.

Saint Lucia LC: Unemployment Rate: % Change data was reported at -55.849 % in Mar 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of -7.614 % for Dec 2004. Saint Lucia LC: Unemployment Rate: % Change data is updated quarterly, averaging -7.614 % from Sep 2003 (Median) to Mar 2016, with 7 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 24.691 % in Sep 2003 and a record low of -55.849 % in Mar 2016. Saint Lucia LC: Unemployment Rate: % Change data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s St. Lucia – Table LC.IMF.IFS: Labour Force, Employment and Unemployment: Quarterly.

St. Lucia: Unemployment rate forecast: Für diesen Indikator stellen wir Daten für St. Lucia von bis bereit. Der durchschnittliche Wert für St. Lucia in diesem Zeitraum lag bei Prozent mit einem Minimum von Prozent im Jahre und einem Maximum von Prozent im Jahre . Der neuste Wert aus dem Jahr liegt bei Prozent. Zum Vergleich: Der Weltdurchschnitt im Jahr , basierend auf Ländern, liegt bei 0.00 Prozent.

Saint Lucia LC: Unemployment Rate: % Change over Previous Period data was reported at 7.078 % in Mar 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of -12.450 % for Dec 2015. Saint Lucia LC: Unemployment Rate: % Change over Previous Period data is updated quarterly, averaging -5.803 % from Dec 2002 (Median) to Mar 2016, with 13 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 51.852 % in Dec 2002 and a record low of -50.003 % in Jun 2015. Saint Lucia LC: Unemployment Rate: % Change over Previous Period data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s St. Lucia – Table LC.IMF.IFS: Labour Force, Employment and Unemployment: Quarterly.

This bar chart displays unemployment (% of total labor force) by capital city using the aggregation average in St. Lucia. The data is about countries per year.

This bar chart displays unemployment (% of total labor force) by ISO 2 country code using the aggregation average in St. Lucia. The data is filtered where the date is 2023. The data is about countries per year.

This scatter chart displays urban population (people) against unemployment (% of total labor force) in St. Lucia. The data is about countries per year.

Abstract

The 2011 Fourth Quarter Labour Force Survey aims to collect information on the supply side of the labour market. It provides information on the extent of available and unused labour time and on relationships between employment and income. Thus, the data collected can be used for:

Macro-economic monitoring:- from an economic point of view, a main objective of collecting data on the economically active population is to provide basic information on the size and structure of a country's workforce. The unemployment rate in particular is widely used as an overall indicator of the current performance of a country's economy.

Human resources development: The economy is changing all the time. In order to meet the needs of the changing economy, people need to be trained. These areas of training must therefore be identified.

Employment policies: For an economy to work at its maximum potential, all persons wanting to have work should have jobs. Some persons may wish to have full-time jobs, and can only find part-time work. We need to know what proportion of the labour force these people represent in order to assess the social effects of government employment policies.

Income Support and social programmes: For the majority of people, employment income is their main means of support. People need not only jobs, but more importantly, productive jobs in order to receive reasonable incomes. We need to know what levels of income are being earned by different groups of persons.

Geographic coverage

National Coverage

Analysis unit

• Households;
• Individuals.

Universe

The survey covered all de jure non-institutional household members (usual residents), it focuses on the employment, unemployment and current activity or inactivity status of all persons aged 15 years and over resident in the household.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Every quarter (three months) approximately 1,000 households are interviewed, there is a one third overlap between the households interviewed between each round of the survey.

The Multi-Stage sampling procedure developed for the St. Lucia MS (Master Sample) Frame is used for the execution of the labour force survey:

The two stage process of sample selection in the ST. LUCIA MS entails the selection of the PSUs within the districts. This is followed by the systematic selection of the cluster of households or USU (Ultimate Sampling Units) within the selected PSUs. The two stages in the design is elaborated as follows:

a. In the first stage, a sampling frame is constructed consisting of all of the enumeration districts from the census of 2001. The size of each enumeration district is measured in units of clusters of households. In the case of the ST. LUCIA MS, approximately seven or eight households were allocated per cluster. The clusters which are allocated to the EDs all have an equal probability of selection within the specified geographic domain in which they are allocated. In addition, the number of clusters allocated to an ED is a measure of the size of the ED. Clusters, therefore ensure the selection of EDs or Primary Sampling Units with probability proportional to the size of the ED. The ST. LUCIA MS frame consists of nine sub-samples / replicates, with each replicate selected with a probability of (1 / (16 * 9)) or 1 / 144.

b. In the second stage a non-compact cluster of households is selected within the selected PSU using systematic random sampling. There are three elements to the selection of this non-compact cluster. Firstly, there is the sample interval, which is a measure of the size of the ED in terms of the total number of households it contains. The larger the ED or PSU the larger will be the sample interval assigned and consequently the larger will be the number of clusters assigned to the ED. This approach ensures that the total number of households selected in any selected ED is approximately the same. In the case of the "Castries" in the ST. LUCIA MS frame the approximate number is five (5). Secondly, the random start is determined by use of a random number generator. With a Microsoft EXCEL spreadsheet the formulae takes the following form, =ROUND(RAND()*E1,0)+1, where E1 is the cell containing the sample interval (or total number of clusters assigned) RAND() is the function which generates the random number. The round() function is used to round the result to the nearest whole number. The third element of choosing the non compact cluster is a combination of the above. A random number (r) is choosen between 1 and the sample interval value, I, inclusive, then to this number is added the sample interval for the full list of households within the primary sample unit. Thus, the list of selected households would be r, r + I, r + 2I, r + 3I, r + 4I,……, r + (n - 1)I, where n is the cluster size assigned to the district, in the case of Castries n is five.

A. Size of the Sample

As has been explained before the decision to use a sampling fraction of 1 : 16 and to assign nine replicates to each District (the geographic domain) was based on the need to take advantage of the small size of the countries covered by this MECOVI project. This was done by increasing the "spread" of the sample across EDs and as a result improving the precision of the estimates which can be obtained from it. In addition, attention was paid to ensuring that were the CSO of ST. LUCIA to consider developing further its Integrated Household Survey Programme, the ground work would have been laid through this Master Sample Frame design for periodic, ad hoc or continuous sample surveys. The achievement of this objective has already been demonstrated through the use of this Sample Frame in the conduct of St. Lucia's continuous Labour Force Survey.

Therefore for any one sub-sample given that there are nine, the sampling fraction is 1 / 16 by 1 / 9 or 1 / 144. If a periodic, ad hoc or quarterly survey included the use of three replicates then the sampling fraction for these three replicates would be 3 / 144 or 1 /16 by 3 / 9. In both cases the resultant sampling fraction is the product of the sampling probability for the Master Sampling frame and the probability of selection of a specific number of replicates.

B. Master Sample Domains of Study and Stratification

1. Domains of Study:

The Master Sample frame was subdivided into eleven areas for the purpose of the provision of estimates from samples selected from this frame. The following list of the ten domains or sub-populations is based on the Districts which formed the basis for the collection of information on the population in the 2001 Census.

The total number of PSUs in the ST. LUCIA MS is 401, a breakdown of the number of PSUs by District is shown in the table above. The average size of the PSUs was 118 approximately with a standard deviation of approximately 47. This configuration does not in the near term present a major problem for sample implementation, since the EDs/PSUs size does not exceed 100 by too great an extent, in addition, while consideration must be given to splitting EDs which have grown in size to over 200, there are not as exist in the case of St. Vincent and the Grenadines a significant number of excessively large EDs. Continuous maintenance of this situation is required and can be done by splitting all EDs over 200 in size into smaller ones of approximate size 100. The main objective of controlling the size of the PSUs, is to reduce variability and thereby improve the precision of estimates from the sample. The more equal the sizes of the PSUs the more likely the variance of characteristics between PSUs will be minimized and inversely the precision of the samples derived from the estimates from the Master Sample Frame increased.

1. Stratification

As shown in the table above each of the domains of study was stratified according to specific criteria. In the more urban domains the criteria used was the percentage of Managers, professional, sub-professionals in the population. The PSUs or EDs were therefore arranged in descending order of the proportion of this group in the population of the ED. In the rural domains the PSUs were arranged in descending order of the proportion of agriculture workers in the population of the ED. In the case of Canaries and Anse-la-Raye, the sizes of the populations in these domains mandated a joining of the two to allow for the creation of a large enough domain for reporting purposes.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

The questionnaire is administered to all members of the household. Questions 1 through 6 are to be completed for all members of the household, these questions cover age, sex, relation to head of household, country of birth etc. All subsequent questions refer to persons 15 year of age and older. The questionnaire is divided into five parts:

PART 1:For all members of the household (regardless of age) - Demographic and emigration questions
PART 2: To be completed for persons 15 years and older - Education, Training, activities during the reference week or month, working at a job, on vacation, methods of seeking work, availability for employment PART 3: For persons employed during the reference week - Number of actual hours of work, number of usual hours of work, seeking additional work, status in employment, industry and occupation of employment PART 3A: For persons holding more than one job during the reference week - Number of actual hours of work, number of usual hours of work, seeking additional work, status in employment, industry and occupation of employment
PART 4: For persons unemployed

This scatter chart displays agricultural land (km²) against unemployment (% of total labor force) in St. Lucia. The data is about countries per year.

Unemployment with intermediate education (% of total labor force with intermediate education) in St Lucia was reported at 16.53 % in 2022, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. St Lucia - Unemployment with intermediate education (% of total unemployment) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on July of 2025.

Saint Lucia LC: Unemployment: Modeled ILO Estimate: % of Total Labour Force data was reported at 20.983 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 21.260 % for 2016. Saint Lucia LC: Unemployment: Modeled ILO Estimate: % of Total Labour Force data is updated yearly, averaging 18.700 % from Dec 1991 (Median) to 2017, with 27 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 24.090 % in 2015 and a record low of 12.720 % in 2008. Saint Lucia LC: Unemployment: Modeled ILO Estimate: % of Total Labour Force data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s St. Lucia – Table LC.World Bank.WDI: Employment and Unemployment. Unemployment refers to the share of the labor force that is without work but available for and seeking employment.; ; International Labour Organization, ILOSTAT database. Data retrieved in September 2018.; Weighted average; Data up to 2016 are estimates while data from 2017 are projections. National estimates are also available in the WDI database. Caution should be used when comparing ILO estimates with national estimates.

This scatter chart displays unemployment (% of total labor force) against net migration (people) in St. Lucia. The data is filtered where the date is 2023. The data is about countries per year.