On Labor Day, María Clara Hoyos, executive president of Asomicrofinanzas, said that Microbusinesses occupy 31.3% of those employed nationwide, which represents a total of 7,247,049 people.
The union leader said that when the Dane reveals the labor market figures monthly and refers to the unemployment rate, an opportunity is immediately evident to take action from the different sectors of the economy, since it is the social responsibility of everyone to contribute. for that number to go down more and more.
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The president of Asomicrofinanzas said that, for example, in the month of February 2024, the unemployment rate in the national total was 11.7%, while for the same month of the previous year it was 11.4%.
When observing the behavior of the population group that makes up the unemployed and unemployed, it is evident that they find an alternative for employment and survival in informality; which is reflected in a larger group of informal than formal workers in the country. Thus, for example, in February 2024, the employed population was 22,493,000, of which the informal workers were 12,812,000, while the formal workers were 9,681,000, he assured.
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Likewise, among those who are economically active and are looking for employment but cannot find it, it is common to see how this informality translates into setting up microenterprises, microbusinesses or their own businesses.
María Clara Hoyos said that according to The Dane microbusiness survey (Emicrom), in the third quarter of 2023, a total of 5,590,701 microbusinesses were reached, a figure that has been growing since the same period of 2022, when it reached figures similar to those recorded before the Covid 19 pandemic, when there were 5,351,720 microbusinesses (first quarter of 2019). It is worth mentioning that the economic sectors that have the greatest participation in the total number of microbusinesses are commerce (25.7%) and agriculture (23%).
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In addition to representing more than 95% of the country’s business ecosystem, microenterprises employ nearly 7,250,000 Colombian men and women, which represents 30.3% of the total number of employees nationwide. By economic sector, these enterprises occupy more than half of the population that works in the agricultural sector, around 46% of those who work in the commerce sector and 42.8% of those who carry out their activities in the accommodation and accommodation sector. food services, said María Clara Hoyos.
Microbusiness iStock
And that is where the social responsibility work of the microcredit sector comes in. We have an “army” of 9,700 advisors specialized in this type of credit option, all linked to the 40 microfinance entities that are part of our Asomicrofinanzas union, said the president of the union.
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The president of Asomicrofinanzas said that with that number of collaborators, 60% women and 40% men, we came to make dreams of starting or strengthening a business come true, to become more productive and competitive and build a better country with less unemployment.
He pointed out that without a doubt, The importance of microcredit is for productive businesses, as unemployment rises, microcredit gains more strength and to the extent that these people and their businesses become stronger, they will have more access to financial services., regardless of their geographical location or social status. Microcredit is the way to help the country grow.
HOLMAN RODRÍGUEZ MARTÍNEZ
