RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Colombia’s unemployment rate stood at 13.3% in November, which represents an increase of four percentage points compared to the same month of the previous year and a better reading compared to the previous months, as reported this Wednesday the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE).
The unemployed population reached 3.3 million people in the eleventh month of the year, which implies a reduction of about 350,000 people compared to October.
“These figures continue to show normalization and a gradual decrease towards pre-pandemic levels, however, there is still a long way to go,” said the chief economist of Scotiabank Colpatria, Sergio Olarte. The economist explained that the data show that the pandemic has generated relatively permanent effects in the Colombian labor market.
For its part, the urban strike, referring to the 13 main cities and metropolitan areas of Bogotá, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Manizales, Pereira, Cúcuta, Pasto, Ibagué, Montería, Cartagena and Villavicenciola, was 15, 4% during November.
The Colombian employment rate reached 53.2%, a reduction of 4.6 percentage points with respect to the previous year, with 21.3 million people employed, of which 810,000 reside in the 13 main cities and metropolitan areas. At the same time, the number of employed persons decreased by 1.6 million compared to 2019.
In the 13 main cities and metropolitan areas, occupancy was 54.4%, compared to 59.5% the previous year.