The Department of Statistics (STAT) today announced the launch of its 2026 Labour Force Survey (LFS), the first full Labour Force Survey in Sint Maarten since 2018. Data collection runs from July to September 2026. The LFS is a household sample survey and the main source of the country’s official unemployment rate, labour-force participation rate and employment figures.
The Labour Force Survey is intended to be conducted every two years. It was last carried out in full in 2018, when the unemployment rate stood at 9.9 per cent (see chart below). The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the 2020 round. Labour-market data were instead drawn from the 2022 Population and Housing Census, which put unemployment at 6.5 per cent (see chart below) while avoiding the expense of a separate survey. Staffing and budgetary constraints subsequently prevented the survey from being run in 2023 and 2025. The Department now has the staff and budget in place, and the 2026 survey re-establishes the regular two-year cycle.
A new, international way of measuring employment
The 2026 survey applies the employment definition recommended by the International Labour Organization (ILO), adopted at its 19th International Conference of Labour Statisticians in 2013. A person is counted as employed if, during the reference week, they worked at least one hour for pay or profit — as an employee, in their own business, or as a contributing family worker. This replaces the four-hour rule used in 2018.
Because of this change, the 2026 results are not directly comparable with earlier years: someone working only one to three hours a week for pay is now counted as employed, where previously they were not. A change in the unemployment rate may therefore reflect the move to the current international standard as well as real developments in the labour market. The Department is noting this from the outset so the results, once published, are clearly understood.
