October 2009 saw the number of unemployed Colombians rise from 2 to 2.5 million compared with the same month last year.
According to a report released Monday by Colombia’s National Statistics Dept (DANE), the level of national unemployment in October rose to 11.5% compared with last years total of 10.1%. These figures indicate that the number of unemployed people has risen by at least 517,000 since October 2008.
Hector Maldonado, director of DANE, stated that there are over 2.5 million unemployed people currently in Colombia.
The cities which registered the highest level of unemployment were Pereira (21.9%), Quibdo (19.5%) and Armenia (18.2%). The cities that had the lowest levels were San Andres (8.9%), Bucaramanga (9.1%) and then Villavicencio (9.9%).
Despite the general increase in unemployment rates across the country, Maldonado said that the country currently has 19.4 million people actively in work, compared less than 17.7 million in 2008.