Unemployment skyrockets in Cauca.
Almost five thousand workers will be laid off in the department of Cauca due to the readjustment of commercial operations of the Ingenio La Cabaña and the Papel Producer SA -Propal-, as a result of the violent invasion of properties and the innumerable blockades of the Pan-American highway, the loss of investor confidence and the absence of social cohesion.
Of the 1,124,317 people of working age, only 623,323 are employed in Cauca. Economically active people represent 54.9%, the majority in the informal sector or with their own businesses. Cauca has 6.2 times more job demand than job offers. In 2022 alone, 4,000 professional job offers were generated and there were nearly 24,000 graduates in higher education.
According to the level of training, graduates with postgraduate studies (specializations, master’s degrees and doctorates) are the ones with the fewest job offers in Popayán and Cauca. The greatest offer is for graduates with technological training, who find job opportunities, but the average salary scale does not exceed the minimum wage of $350 per month.
Millennial and Z generation workers (12 to 42 years old) are digital natives, they seek flexible schedules, develop their skills, get promoted, have a leadership role, travel, not consolidate families or have children, and find independent work challenges. Unlike those of generation Z (from 42 to 62 years old), whose priority is to earn an income to consolidate their family, have job stability and achieve a retirement pension.
The majority of companies registered with the Cauca Chamber of Commerce are microenterprises, that is, establishments whose number of workers does not exceed 10 employees. In general terms, the department of Cauca is characterized by having a volatile economy, low industrialization, high levels of unemployment, poverty, income concentration, low per capita income, and additionally, its economy is deeply permeated by armed conflict, drug trafficking and the corruption.
The department of Cauca has shown in its recent history that its economy basically depends on four sectors:
The industrialist, In the north of Cauca, the department hires personnel to occupy low and middle positions, the senior management personnel, belong to workers from other latitudes.
The Commercial sector and services shows difficulties in terms of employment, since public and private entities hire through recommendations and unstable service provision links, public universities are in crisis and increasingly demand fewer permanent jobs, the health sector also faces one of its worst crises and domestic services do not require high qualifications.
The unemployment situation of women is critical. The gender indicator on unemployment shows that, at the local level, women are leading the highest figures. That is to say, the little existing demand is generally filled by men.
Efforts to promote sectors such as tourism are insufficient, a sector that, by operating in a network, requires political will to prevent the permanent blockage of the Pan-American Highway, as well as increasing investment in roads, hospitals, its own infrastructure and political support, among others. geographical resources and workforce qualification being the only factors that the department specifically has.
The agricultural sector, dairy and livestock farmers, are impacted by the abandonment of the State in the absence and promotion of distribution networks and internal markets so that the peasant has better bargaining power and, therefore, obtains better income; urgently requires implementing subsidies in the short and medium term to protect them from price instability in international markets to achieve greater competitiveness. A sector affected by the proliferation of illicit crops, despite the fact that the coffee subsector generates around 50,000 jobs, whose participation is low within the total economically active population of Cauca;
The educational sector could be the protagonist since it has the appropriate infrastructure, but it requires structural adjustments in its professional and technical profile to consolidate it, which implies a study of the relevance of its classroom plans and high-quality certified programs to train for high-quality work skills. relevance, with the purpose of generating effective leadership to guide regional development.
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