Colombia | National unemployment rate was 9.7% in August

The national unemployment rate was 9.7% in August, up from 9.3% in August 2023. Seasonally adjusted, the August unemployment rate was 10.0%, unchanged from July this year, and below its average level for the first half of the year, which was 10.6%.

Key points

• Key points:
• In seasonally adjusted figures, national employment stood at 23.3 million in August, up from 23.2 million in July.
• In annual terms, as of August 2024, employment increased by 257,000 jobs, bringing employment creation from 0.1% y/y in July to 1.1% y/y in August and closer to its first-half average of 0.8% y/y this year.
• Sectorally, in annual terms, six of the thirteen sectors analysed showed positive contributions to the variation in employment, the most significant being Arts and Entertainment Activities (195 thousand jobs created), followed by Retail (159 thousand jobs created) and Accommodation and Food (116 thousand jobs created).
• Between August 2023 and August 2024 the informality rate, measured as the ratio of non-employed to employed, remained stable at 53%.
• Regionally, the thirteen main cities (239,000 jobs created, 2.2% annually) and the countryside (75,000 jobs, 1.6% annually) created jobs and the rest of the cities destroyed jobs (58,000 jobs, 0.8% annually). The urban unemployment rate, including all municipal capitals, stood at 10.3 per cent in August, above the national unemployment rate. At the urban level, in the 13 main cities, the unemployment rate was 10.0 per cent in August 2024, and at the rural level, it was 7.0 per cent.

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