Working Paper Series: Special Edition of 2016 to 2018 Interns

4.4.2 Employment Demand by Educational Attainment In addition, the labour needs survey reports a mismatch between the skills required by job openings

and the skills attained by job seekers. It shows that while 44.0 per cent of job openings required tertiary qualification a mere 7.0 per cent of job seekers had tertiary qualification and while 25.0 per cent of job openings sought below secondary qualifications an excess of 60.0 per cent of job seekers fell in that bracket.

Figure 9: Job Market by Educational Attainment

Tertiary Secondary Below Secondary

100 120

25

33

0 20 40 60 80

60

31

40

33

44

27

7

New Employee Qualifications

Job Opening Requirements

Job Seekers Qualifications

Source: C ntral Statistics Office, Saint Lucia

4.4.3 Employment Demand by Employer Type The survey also revealed that in total more than 70.0 per cent of all jobs were created by small and

medium sized firms, that is, firms with less than 250 employees (Figure 10) lending credence to the theory that small and medium enterprises play a very significant role in creating employment activity in developing economies.

Figure 10: Job Creation by Company Size

250 employees and Over 50 to 250 employees

27%

32%

Under 50 employees

41%

Source: CSO, Saint Lucia- Labour Market Needs Assessment Survey

240