RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Colombia’s urban jobless rate rose to 16.8% in October, from 10.4% in the same month of 2019; the overall unemployment rate registered 14.7% in October, nearly 5 percentage points more than the rate registered during the same month last year, when it was at 9.8%, the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) said on Monday, November 30th.
However, the rate declined compared to peak-pandemic months, the agency said.
“The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate nationwide was 16.2 percent in September 2020; in August, 17 percent; in July, 19.7 percent; in June, 20.7 percent; and in May, 21.1 percent,” the DANE said in a statement.
Colombian President Ivan Duque last week extended the health emergency declared due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) until February 28th, but also extended measures to help reactivate the economy, such as regulations calling for social distancing and individual responsibility.
According to the DANE, “the employed population in October 2020 numbered 21.3 million people, which reflects a reduction of 1.5 million employed persons (statistically significant) compared to the same month of the previous year.”
According to the statement, the areas that presented the greatest drop in employment were defense, civil service, healthcare and education.
Source: XinhuaNet