Almost one fifth of Colombians between the ages of 14 and 26 is unemployed, according to the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE).
Between April and June of this year, youth unemployment reached just over 19%, almost double Colombia’s overall unemployment rate of 10%.
According to the study, in the second quarter 2012, just over 25% of young female workers and while nearly 15% of young male workers were unemployed. Despite the disappointing numbers, the job market has slightly improved in the past year. “Compared to the same period last year, [youth] male unemployment decreased by 1.8% and female [unemploymen] by 1.5%,” reported DANE.
Despite this, the unemployment situation has improved under Santos, with today’s nearly 2.25 million unemployed signifying a 10% drop since his inauguration in 2010. Labor Minister Rafael Pardo said in late July that finding mechanism to generate more jobs for the youth is one of the Santos administration’s top priorities. According to Pardo, Colombia has already managed to create almost 500,000 new jobs for young people with tax reduction incentives for companies that employ workers below the age of 28.