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Unemployment and informality continue to be the biggest problem on the Colombian economic agenda. The Dane recorded in its October report that there are 1.5 million new unemployed compared to the previous year.
The entity pointed out that the unemployment rate in October of the current year was 14.7%, while in the same month of last year a figure of 9.8% was registered.
Although Juan Daniel Oviedo, director of Dane, said that the aforementioned figure allows seeing a certain degree of recovery compared to the first months of the year, some experts claim that it is informality that has stabilized the unemployment rate.
“Part of that recovery is being achieved at the cost of job quality. It is not a growth that is based on the formal sector of the economy, but this is mainly in informality. Those who lost their jobs are resuming their possibility of working in the informal sector, and that is why the number of employment grows ”, Isidro Hernández, professor from the Faculty of Economics of the Externado University, told Pulzo.
The director of the Labor Observatory of the Universidad del Rosario, Iván Jaramillo, explained to Pulzo that in recent months there has been a gradual recovery in the labor market due to the reactivation measures. However, Colombia continues to lag behind the rest of the countries in the region.
“Colombia, before the pandemic, already had high levels of unemployment. That is why the recovery is slower (…) We need to strengthen consumption. It is expected that for December there will be an increase in hiring, due to the nature of the season, “he said.
He also said that seeing informality as a solution against unemployment is a mistake and a risk for Colombian society.
“Unfortunately the lockdown has increased informality throughout the country. The academy had been registering levels higher than 60% in informality (…) If the employment is not of quality, there is no social coverage or labor protection, which is a determining factor for the capacity to consume, a preponderant factor for economic recovery ”, he said.
El Dane added that the gender gap continued to widen in October. While unemployment in men was 10.7%, the figure registered by women was 20.1%.
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