El Salvador's unemployment, female (% of female labor force) (national estimate) was 3.27% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is down 0.2 percentage points from 3.47% in 2015.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | 3.27% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 5.42% | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | 3.47% | 2015 |
| Highest | 24.37% | 1985 |
| Lowest | 3.06% | 2024 |
| Average since 2016 | 3.91% | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | 17.71% | 1980 |
What the numbers say
In 2025, El Salvador's unemployment, female (% of female labor force) (national estimate) rose 0.21 percentage points on 2024 (from 3.06% to 3.27%).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.11 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.79 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 3.23 percentage points in 1993 and the biggest yearly fall was 14.08 percentage points in 1986. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2016 to 2025 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 19% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2025, El Salvador had the 68th highest value of the 83 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| El Salvador | 3.27% | 2025 |
| Latin America & Caribbean | 6.29% | 2025 |
Closest to El Salvador in the 2025 ranking
What this measures
Unemployment refers to the share of the labor force that is without work but available for and seeking employment. Definitions of labor force and unemployment differ by country.
Limitations: The criteria for people considered to be seeking work, and the treatment of people temporarily laid off or seeking work for the first time, vary across countries. In many cases it is especially difficult to measure employment and unemployment in agriculture. The timing of a survey can maximize the effects of seasonal unemployment in agriculture. And informal sector employment is difficult to quantify where informal activities are not tracked.
Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.
All 41 values
| Year | Unemployment, female (% of female labor force) (national estimate) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 3.27 |
| 2024 | 3.06 |
| 2023 | 3.33 |
| 2022 | 3.29 |
| 2021 | 4.76 |
| 2020 | 5.42 |
| 2019 | 4.38 |
| 2018 | 3.75 |
| 2017 | 4 |
| 2016 | 3.85 |
| 2015 |
Unemployment, female (% of female labor force) (national estimate) in nearby economies
- Argentina — 8.2% (2025)
- Bahamas, The — 8.43% (2024)
- Barbados — 5.38% (2024)
- Belize — 13.58% (2019)
- Bolivia — 3.05% (2025)
- Brazil — 7.16% (2025)
- Cayman Islands — 5.2% (2015)
- Chile — 9.56% (2025)
- Colombia — 10.66% (2025)
More social protection & labor data for El Salvador
- Net migration — -23,934 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of origin — 68,182 (2025)
- Refugees under the mandate of the UNHCR by country or territory of asylum — 182 (2025)
- Unemployment, total (% of total labor force) (national estimate) — 2.93% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15+) (national estimate) — 48.63% (2025)
- Ratio of female to male labor force participation rate (%) (national estimate) — 63.26% (2025)
- Labor force participation rate, male (% of male population ages 15+) (national estimate) — 76.87% (2025)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is El Salvador's unemployment, female (% of female labor force) (national estimate)?
- 3.27% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1980?
- It is down 14.44 percentage points from 17.71% in 1980. The highest value was 24.37% in 1985 and the lowest 3.06% in 2024.
- How does El Salvador rank?
- 68th highest of 83 economies with data for 2025.
- Is the latest change in unemployment, female (% of female labor force) (national estimate) unusual for El Salvador?
- In 2025, El Salvador's unemployment, female (% of female labor force) (national estimate) rose 0.21 percentage points on 2024 (from 3.06% to 3.27%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was −0.11 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 0.79 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SL.UEM.TOTL.FE.NE.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Labour Force Statistics database (LFS), International Labour Organization (ILO), uri: https://ilostat.ilo.org/data/bulk/, publisher: ILOSTAT, type: external database, date accessed: September 28, 2026 Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.
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