Informality continues above 50%.
Photo: Mauricio Alvarado Lozada
The National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) reported that the unemployment rate in May was 10.3%, which translates into a reduction of 0.2 percentage points compared to the same month last year.
In the 13 major cities and metropolitan areas, the figure was also 10.3% (a decrease of 0.9 percentage points), while in rural centers it was 7.3%, an increase of 0.5 percentage points.
Although the reduction was minimal, it should be noted that Colombia has not recorded a single-digit unemployment figure since November of last year, while the graph indicates that the behavior of this element in the labor market seems to have reached a new plateau.
In Colombia there are 2.64 million unemployed, which translates into an increase of 6,000 compared to May of last year. The working-age population is counted at 40 million people, the employed are 23 million (463,000 more) and the population outside of work is 14.3 million (107,000 more). The latter are people who, being of working age, are not employed in the labor market for reasons of study, carrying out unpaid care activities, because they receive an income, are disabled or are not interested in working.
In May, the activities that generated the most employment were arts, entertainment, recreation and other service activities, with more than 231,000 jobs; followed by construction (with 160,000 new jobs) and accommodation and food services (with 100,000).
In contrast, the sectors that lost the most workers were trade and vehicle repair, with 137,000 fewer jobs, as well as transport and storage (-63,000), financial and insurance activities (-55,000), information and communications (-25,000), agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry and fishing (-21,000) and professional, scientific, technical, and administrative services activities (-17,000).
In May the gender gap continued in the country, as the unemployment rate for men was 9%, while for women it was 12.1%, the difference is 3.1 percentage points. However, it stands out that in the 13 cities and metropolitan areas the current gap is less than one point (0.8 percentage points), since unemployment in men is 10% and that of women is 10.7%. .
The differences that exist in terms of occupational positions can also be highlighted, since while male domestic employees are counted at 71,000, female domestic employees are 648,000. Male employers are 467,000, while female employers are 211,000.
During the most recent quarter of the year (March – May), the city with the highest unemployment rates was Quibdó, with 28.6%, followed by Riohacha (19.5%), Florencia (16.4%), Ibagué (14.7%) and Cúcuta (13.7%).
In contrast, the cities with the lowest unemployment rate were Bucaramanga (8.8%), Santa Marta (9.3%), Medellín (9.4%), Pereira (9.6%), Villavicencio (9.7%) and Bogotá (9.9%).
Informality, another of the moles in the Colombian labor market, also marked an important rate in May, which was 55.6%. This registered a negative variation of just 0.1 percentage points compared to the same period last year.
In the 13 main cities and metropolitan areas, informality was 41.8%, while in populated, rural and dispersed centers it was 84.2%.
The above means that of the 23 million people employed in Colombia, 12.81 million are informal, while 10.21 million are formal.
The cities where informality has the greatest presence in Colombia are Sincelejo (69.7%), Cúcuta (60.6%), Valledupar (59.5%), Montería (59.2%) and Riohacha (58.6% ). Those with the lowest informality rates are Bogotá (33.5%), Manizales (33.7%), Pereira (38.5%), Tunja (38.5%) and Medellín (39.2%).
