This unemployment rate translates into a reduction of 0.1% compared to the same month last year.

The National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) reported that, in April, the unemployment rate in Colombia was 10.6%, which translates into a reduction of 0.1 percentage points compared to the same month last year, as well as 0.7 (pp) below that consolidated in the immediately previous month.

This means that in the country there are more than 2.72 million unemployed people, which implies a reduction of 8,000 people compared to the same period last year. Other labor market figures show that the working-age population is 40 million people; those who have a job are 22.8 million (123,000 more compared to April 2023), and the population outside the labor force (people who do not work for reasons of study, disability, receipt of income or lack of interest) are counted in 14.41 million (almost half a million more).

In this last area, the greatest increase occurred in men since it went from 4.3 million to 4.6 million (a variation of 6.7%), while in women it went from 9.6 million. million to 9.8 million (up 1.7%). Beyond the variation, women continue to represent a very high participation in this segment, and this is especially due to the gender imbalance that exists in performing unpaid home care work.

As stated by the director of DANE, Piedad Urdinola, in terms of unemployment, none of the changes that were registered were statistically significant. In the 13 cities and metropolitan areas, unemployment was 10.03%, consolidating a reduction of 0.7 percentage points compared to April of last year. In the 10 main cities the rate was 12.5% (up 0.2 pp), in populated, rural and dispersed centers it was 7.1% (up 0.4 pp), and in other capitals it was 13 .4% (up 0.6%), the latter being the one that generated the greatest brake for the rate to drop so slightly.

Part of the problems that DANE continues to express in the labor market is found in the gender gap, because while unemployment is 8.8% in men, in women it is 13.1% (the difference is 4.3 pp).

More granular figures on this matter indicate that, in April, unemployed men were counted at 1.28 million, while unemployed women were 1.43 million. If these figures are compared with those recorded in the same month last year, it is evident that unemployment rose in them by 5.5%, while in them it fell by 4.9%.

The activity that most boosted job creation in April was finance and insurance, which contributed 77,000 jobs to the labor market. It was followed by professional, scientific, technical and administrative services (with 63,000), accommodation and food services (with 62,000), trade and vehicle repair (with 52,000), public administration and defense, education and human health care (with with 49,000) and transportation and storage (with 19,000).

Those that lost the most workers were agriculture, livestock, hunting, forestry and fishing (with -109,000), manufacturing industries (-93,000), information and communications (-14,000), real estate activities (-7,000) and construction (-3,000).

The cities with the highest and lowest unemployment

Part of the inequalities that exist in Colombia are shown by these labor market figures. The city with the highest unemployment in April was Quibdó, with a rate of 28.6%, followed by Riohacha (20.1%), Florencia (17.1%), Ibagué (15.2%) and Popayán (15.1%). %).

In contrast, those with the lowest unemployment rate were Santa Marta (9.6%), Bucaramanga (9.6%), Villavicencio (9.8%), Medellín (10.1%) and Bogotá (10.1%). %).