Home / Unemployment / El Salvador
El Salvador — Unemployment
Unemployment Rate for El Salvador, 1991–2025.
Latest value · 2025
3.30%
Unemployment Rate · % of total labor force · -56.1% since 1991
Unemployment for El Salvador was 3.30% in 2025, according to the latest World Bank data. The series covers 35 years, from 1991 to 2025. The highest recorded value was 9.94% in 1993. The lowest was 2.99% in 2023 (about 1.1× the low point). Across that span the compound annual growth rate works out to -2.39% per year.
El Salvador ranks 137 of 187 economies on this measure (1 = highest), putting it in the top 73%. The median for Latin America & Caribbean is 5.99%, so El Salvador sits below it. It peaked in 1993 and has fallen 67% since. Over the last decade (2015–2025) the figure moved down 17%.
Key figures
Latest (2025)
3.30%
First (1991)
7.53%
Change
-56.1%
Highest
9.94%
in 1993
Lowest
2.99%
in 2023
Average
5.76%
Annual growth (CAGR)
-2.39%
Years of data
35
Recent years
| Year | % of total labor force |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3.3% |
| 2024 | 3.26% |
| 2023 | 2.99% |
| 2022 | 3% |
| 2021 | 4.33% |
| 2020 | 5.01% |
| 2019 | 4.17% |
| 2018 | 4.01% |
| 2017 | 4.39% |
| 2016 | 4.42% |
| 2015 | 4% |
| 2014 | 4.15% |
Reading this correctly. Share of the labor force without work but available for and seeking employment. National definitions differ, so cross-country comparison needs care. Figures are in % of total labor force. Comparing this series with a different measure of the same concept (for example a nominal figure against a purchasing-power-parity figure) will give misleading results.
Related data
Source. World Bank Open Data, indicator
SL.UEM.TOTL.ZS — Unemployment Rate. Data licensed under CC BY 4.0. Values are reproduced as published; this page computes the summary statistics (change, CAGR, extremes) from the underlying annual series. View the original dataset on data.worldbank.org.