Colombia | In August, the national unemployment rate remained low at 9.3%

The August national unemployment rate was 9.3%, down 1.4 p.p. from August of last year and 1.9 p.p. from August 2019, making it the lowest rate for August since 2016. August's low unemployment rate responds to high employment levels, of 23.2 million people nationally.

Key points

• Key points:
• The national unemployment rate in August was 9.3%, 1.4 percentage points lower than in August of last year (10.6%). On the margin, compared to July of this year, the unemployment rate remained stable, decreasing by 0.1 percentage points (seasonally adjusted figures).
• The low unemployment rates as of August reflect a high annual job creation of 4.5% at the national level, lower, however, than in July of this year (5.1%). At the urban level, annual job creation also remained high, at 4.8%, and showed a slowdown compared to July and June.
• In levels, national employment remained stable with respect to July, with 23.2 million people employed, surpassing the figures observed during the January-June 2023 period (22.7 million) and even that of last June, when employment showed strong upward momentum from already high levels (seasonally adjusted figures).
• Services, as a whole, were the major generators of employment in the last year (+ 668 thousand jobs), as well as industry (+ 206 thousand jobs) and agriculture (+ 178 thousand jobs). Among services, public administration, education and health (+ 184 thousand jobs created) and accommodation and food (+ 167 thousand jobs) led in terms of job creation. Retail and wholesale was the main job destroyer (- 139 thousand jobs), together with public services (- 75 thousand jobs) and construction (- 51 thousand jobs).
• By category, large cities (49.5% of employment created) contributed the most to annual job creation in August. Non-salaried employment (52.3%) contributed slightly more to annual job creation than salaried employment and women (50.8%) and men similarly.

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