While inflation remains high and GDP growth is approaching zero, the Colombian labor market appears to have returned to the status quo it had a few decades ago. The unemployment rate was 9.3% in August, down 1.3 percentage points compared to 10.6% in the same month last year. This is a return to usual levels before the pandemic shock.
This means that of the 39,615,000 working-age people in August, 23,161,000 people were employed in August, according to DANE estimates. This latest figure reflects an increase of more than a million people compared to the same month last year, another expression of the return to normality after the shock of 2020.
This increase in employment is due to growth in almost all sectors into which the statistical unit divides the labor market, in particular the 206,000 additional people in manufacturing; the 184,000 extras in public administration, defense, education and health; and the additional 178 in agriculture, livestock and weight.
At the press conference to present the results, Trujillo highlighted the increase of 151,000 people in real estate activities, as the growth rate of this sector is significantly higher than that of the market as a whole. Despite these good figures, three sectors recorded declines: construction, with 51,000 fewer people; electricity, gas, water and waste disposal, with a decline of 75,000 people; and in particular the trade and repair of vehicles, because 139,000 fewer people were involved in this in 2023 than in 2022.
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This recovery in work has also helped narrow the gap between men and women. Although their unemployment rate remains higher at 11.8% compared to 7.4%, among the newly employed there are 509,000 women compared to 492,000 men. That’s why the difference between them, known in technical language as the gender gap, has been falling since August 2002 – although it is higher this month than in the previous two months. The increase in women’s employment is particularly due to work in the service sector, led by the accommodation and food services sector with 176,000 new female workers.
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