Photo: NordSpace · CC BY-SA 4.0A place people come to for work: St. Lawrence has 1.8 jobs per resident in work
In May 2021, unemployment in St. Lawrence reached 18%, and the middle of Canadian towns sits at 9.9%. The average trip to work from St. Lawrence is 12.4 minutes; 3.7% of commuters spend an hour or more getting there. Half the households in St. Lawrence had more than $64,400 in 2020, before tax, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
St. Lawrence at work: what stands out
Fewer people in work than most towns
At the 2021 census 64% of the 15-to-64s were in work (73% in the middle of Canadian towns); across all ages 15 and over, 44%. In work ↓
More unemployment than most towns
Unemployment stood at 18% on census day in 2021 (9.9% in the middle of Canadian towns). Unemployment ↓
Lower incomes than most towns
Household income at the median was $64,400 in 2020, before tax; Canadian towns have $85,900 at the middle. Household income ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 12.4 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 3.7% last an hour or longer. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
On jobs and income, St. Lawrence grades C
Better than 34% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, the share of 15-to-64s in work.
Graded against Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more; less unemployment and a shorter commute count in its favour.
How the grade works
Census 2021 measures, weighed equally against every Canadian town and neighbourhood of 2,500 people or more: the share of residents aged 15 to 64 in work, median household income (2020), the unemployment rate and the average commute. Each becomes a percentile; their average sets the letter.
St. Lawrence at work: 64% of people aged 15 to 64
A smaller share in work than in 88% of Canadian towns.
Across all ages 15 and over the share in work falls to 44%: many residents are past working age. 54% of residents aged 15 and over were in the labour force, in work or seeking it. Census day was 11 May 2021, in the pandemic’s third wave: unemployment ran high and many worked from home, so these figures describe that spring rather than today.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: people in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64, and the census unemployment rate (15 and over); the 25-to-54 rate is Statistics Canada’s own (98-10-0485). The Labour Force Survey and business counts are context, not grade inputs.
Earnings at home in St. Lawrence: households
Before tax, 2020: lower than in 79% of Canadian towns.
Set beside Newfoundland and Labrador’s towns, where the median is $63,700, St. Lawrence sits 1% above. CERB and the other emergency payments of 2020 are counted in these incomes, which lifted the lower ones that year.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
Each working day, St. Lawrence’s workforce swells by 80%
310 residents of St. Lawrence had a usual place of work at the 2021 census, and 565 people had theirs in St. Lawrence, wherever they lived.
St. Lawrence takes in some 8 workers for every resident it sends out. 88% of residents who commute work inside the municipality, against 70% in the middle of Canadian towns.
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Time on the road to work from St. Lawrence
A quarter-hour or less for 85% of commuters, against 56% in the middle of Newfoundland and Labrador’s towns. Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 10.7 minutes. In the middle of Newfoundland and Labrador’s towns, the average commute is 19 minutes.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: commuting duration in five bands; our average uses each band’s middle (75 minutes for an hour or more), so it runs about two minutes above Statistics Canada’s own.
Commuting time at the 2021 Census, to work only, for people who travel to a usual workplace or have none fixed.
293 people come into St. Lawrence to work, most from Lawn and Marystown
- Lawn45
- Marystown40
- Division No. 2, Subd. F35
- Burin30
- Lord's Cove25
- Division No. 2, Subd. C20
- Division No. 2, Subd. E15
- Lamaline15
- St. John's10
- Lewin's Cove10
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
2021 Census, people with a usual place of work: where residents of St. Lawrence work and where people who work there live, the ten largest each way.
12% of commuters from St. Lawrence go without a car
Home was the workplace for 2.4%, under the 21% in the middle of Canadian towns. Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%. Fewer drive than in the middle of Newfoundland and Labrador’s towns: 84% against 92%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
How residents who commute got to work, 2021 Census; working at home is counted apart.
EI claims in Census Division No. 2 run 15% below their 2019 level
Behind EI beneficiaries sits data gathered across Census Division No. 2, with St. Lawrence one part of it.
February 2021 was the busiest month, with 3,910 people on EI, 1.6 times 2019’s average. Per 100 residents aged 15 to 64, about 15.5 receive EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100).
St. Lawrence grades A− for walkability
Better than 81% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
Next to St. Lawrence: how nearby places compare
St. Lawrence has few close neighbours with figures, so the list reaches 23–37 km out.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Lawrence | 64% | 18% | $64K | 12.4 min | C | A− |
| Burin 23.2 km | 64% | 18% | $66K | 22.7 min | C− | C |
| Marystown 31.7 km | 55% | 20% | $60K | 14.9 min | C− | C+ |
| Grand Bank 33.9 km | 60% | 18% | $57K | 15.7 min | C− | A |
| Fortune 37 km | 56% | 22% | $57K | 17.7 min | C− | A− |
The people of each place: the share in work, unemployment, household income and the average commute, with both grades once they come.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for St. Lawrence, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Unemployment. A census-day figure: people without a job who were looking, divided by all those working or looking, ages 15 and up.
- Household income. Before-tax total income of the middle household for 2020, from the census. Neighbourhood medians are worked out from bracket counts, since Statistics Canada publishes none of their own.
- Trip times. Our average assumes everyone in, say, the 15-to-29-minute band takes 22 minutes. Across all the bands that runs a shade above Statistics Canada’s measured average.
- Where people commute. Who travels where, from the census: workers with a regular workplace, sorted by the municipality they live in and the one they work in.
- Employment Insurance. How many people in the census division drew Employment Insurance each month; it moves with layoffs and hiring, yet people who don’t qualify are absent from it.
- In work. Everyone with a job, whatever their age, divided by the residents aged 15 to 64 at the 2021 Census: below the municipality the census doesn’t split work by age, and this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood can be given.
- Which towns we compare. Medians over towns and neighbourhoods of at least 2,500 residents. Whole cities would swamp them and reserves sit outside the rankings, so neither is in.
Questions about work in St. Lawrence
How do people in St. Lawrence get to work?
By car: 84% of commuters, 12% walk; on census day 2.4% of those in work worked from home.
How long is the commute from St. Lawrence?
12.4 minutes is the average trip, with 85% of commuters there in under 15 minutes and 3.7% taking an hour or more.
Where do people in St. Lawrence work?
88% work in St. Lawrence itself; of those who leave, the most go to Burin (10), then Marystown (10).
How many jobs are there in St. Lawrence?
Statistics Canada counted 33 businesses with employees in June 2026.
What is the unemployment rate in St. Lawrence?
The 2021 census found 18% of those working or looking without a job; the middle of Canadian towns is 9.9%.
What is the average household income in St. Lawrence?
The median household in St. Lawrence had $64,400 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (Census Profile) · Statistics Canada, tables 98-10-0458 and 98-10-0459 (commuting) · Statistics Canada, table 14-10-0323 (EI beneficiaries) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Business Counts (33-10-1176) · grades: TownRatings. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).