Unemployment in St Vincent and Grenadines

The Department of Labour is the main public contact for employment help. Its Employment Service Unit and Employment Services Center register unemployed jobseekers, conduct interviews, provide advice, maintain a jobseeker database and match applicants with vacancies in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines or abroad. Available support includes job placement, job-search training, résumé preparation and interview preparation. The Department of Labour office is at Marion House, Murray's Road, Richmond Hill, Kingstown, and is listed as open Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 16:15. Service fees are not published, so confirm current requirements and contact details before attending. National information does not establish a separate procedure for the Grenadines. The 2023 Census counted 10,124 unemployed people among 86,382 working-age people. It recorded 46,480 employed people and 29,778 people outside the labour force. The 2026 Budget gives an unemployment figure of 17.9% and reports especially high youth rates: 51.1% for ages 15 to 19, 28.3% for ages 20 to 24 and 19.4% for ages 25 to 29. The published 2017 Labour Force Survey reported 25.8% overall, 21.5% for men and 30.6% for women, but those figures are older and do not describe the current situation by themselves. The current National Insurance Services (NIS) benefit list includes maternity, sickness, invalidity, age, funeral, survivors and employment-injury benefits, but it does not list an unemployment benefit. A 2024 NIS reform announcement referred to a permanent unemployment benefit from January 2025. The NIS annual report referred to a feasibility study from January 2025, while an International Labour Organization mission in September 2025 still described the establishment of an unemployment-insurance scheme as under exploration. Eligibility, contribution requirements, payment amounts, duration, reporting duties, appeals and payment timing therefore remain unconfirmed for a general current unemployment payment. A worker who loses employment through qualifying redundancy may have a severance claim. When an employer makes at least five employees redundant, the employer must give written notice one month beforehand to the union or employee representative and the Labour Commissioner. Severance becomes available after at least two years of continuous service. The stated rate is two weeks' pay for each year from years one to ten, three weeks for each year from years eleven to twenty-five and four weeks for each year above twenty-five. Payment is due forthwith, and a written complaint can be made to the Labour Commissioner or the relevant tribunal if the employer does not pay. NIS contributions do not apply to severance. The Public Assistance Programme is the main documented crisis-support option for households in distress. The 2026 Budget announced Poor Relief of EC$500 per month for 4,614 beneficiaries, and the responsible ministry publishes card-payment schedules. Other measures mentioned in the available information include Emergency Relief Grants, Vulnerability Grants, WE CAN conditional cash transfers and farm or business skills support. Unemployment alone is not established as an automatic entitlement. Eligibility, intake procedures and appeal rights are not fully published, so the household's circumstances and the current programme rules need to be checked directly. During the COVID-19 period, a laid-off person who had received one NIS payment could obtain a Certificate of Continuous Unemployment through the Labour Department for submission to NIS. The certificate recorded employment dates, occupation, last paid day and expected re-employment. That arrangement was temporary and does not establish a current general unemployment benefit or continuing payment rule. For re-entry, registration with the Department of Labour, an updated résumé, interview preparation and regular review of local and overseas vacancies provide the clearest documented public pathway. Registration and current contact details are practically needed for the service, but no general current duty to submit regular job-search evidence, accept every job or report benefit changes has been verified. Job placement is not automatic, and the available information does not establish a current unemployment-benefit continuation or termination rule after a person returns to work.