Colombia’s unemployment rate for April rose slighty on the March figure, from 10.4% to 10.9%, according to a report by the government statistics agency DANE published Thursday.
There was a 0.3 percentage point decrease on the April 2011 figure, which stood at 11.2%. Last month 20.5 million were employed while 2.5 million people were unemployed.
The unemployment rate for Colombia’s 23 cities from February to April was 11.8%.
Quibdo, the capital of the western Choco department abd one of the most deprived capitals in the country, registered an unemployment rate of 19.1%, while the Metropolitan Area of Barranquilla, capital of the northwestern Atlantico department on the Caribbean coast only reported a rate of 7.5%.
The biggest employment sector growth was seen in the construction industry, with a 17.1% increase from February to April 2012, while there was a 1.3% rise in employment in the real estate sector.