Colombia | Unemployment rate remained at low levels in October, while employment fell

The October 2023 national unemployment rate was 9.2%, down from 9.7% in October 2022, and the urban unemployment rate was 9.0%, down from 9.9% a year earlier. Seasonally adjusted, the national rate increased by 0.3 p.p. between September and October 2023 and the urban rate decreased by 0.2 p.p..

Key points

• Key points:
• The increase in the seasonally adjusted national unemployment rate between September and October is explained by the slowdown in the pace of job creation, which went from 3.2% annually in September to 2.1% in October, largely explained by the drop in the level of employment between the two months -seasonally adjusted figures-. At the urban level, annual job creation accelerated from 2.2% in September to 4.0% in October, and the level of employment increased between the two months.
• In terms of levels, in October, with 22.7 million employed persons, national employment fell for the second consecutive month, below its levels of September (23.0 million) and August 2023 (23.1 million) -seasonally adjusted figures-. At the urban level, employment stood at 10.9 million people, higher than in September (10.8 million) and higher than the January to May 2023 average (10.6 million) -seasonally adjusted-.
• Services, as a whole, were the major generators of employment in the last year, contributing 680 thousand jobs (143% of the employment created) of the 476 thousand jobs created in the year. On the other hand, retail (- 135 thousand jobs), industry (- 108 thousand jobs) and financial activities (- 55 thousand jobs) destroyed jobs during the year.
• By category, annual employment created in October was mainly female (90% of employment created), in large cities (89%) and salaried (78%).

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