Unemployment in Colombia drops to 9.3% in August

While inflation remains high and Gross Domestic Product growth approaches zero, the Colombian labor market appears to have reached the status quo it had a couple of decades ago. The unemployment rate registered 9.3% in August, which means a reduction of 1.3 percentage points compared to the 10.6% recorded in the same month last year. This is a return to the usual levels before the shock due to the pandemic.

This means that in August, according to DANE estimates, of the 39,615,000 people of working age, 23,161,000 people were employed in August. That last figure reflects an increase of more than a million people compared to the same month of the previous year, another manifestation of the return of normality after the shock of 2020.

This increase in employed people is due to growth in almost all branches into which the statistical entity divides the labor market, especially due to the 206,000 more people in manufacturing industries; the 184,000 extras in public administration, defense, education and health; and the additional 178 in agriculture, livestock and weight. Trujillo emphasized the increase of 151,000 people in the real estate activities sector, since the speed of growth for that sector is significantly higher than that of the entire market as a whole. Despite these good figures, three areas saw drops: construction, with 51,000 fewer people, the supply of electricity, gas, water and waste management, with a drop of 75,000 people; and especially that of vehicle trade and repair, since in 2023 there were 139,000 fewer people dedicated to it than in 2022.

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