Colombia’s unemployment rate dropped to 9.4% from 10.7% in the same month last year, the country’s statistics agency announced Friday.
Last month’s unemployment rate was the lowest rate measured in May in 12 years.
Urban unemployment dropped from 11.9 to 10.5%.
According to statistics agency DANE, 2.2 million Colombians are currently without a job. Another 2.8 million, or 11.8%, is underemployed, meaning the worker is registered as employed, but fails to make enough money to maintain a standard of living above the poverty line.
The decrease in unemployment, means that 280,000 more Colombians were working in May this year compared to the same month in 2012.
Cities with the lowest unemployment rates are Barranquilla (7.9%), Bogota (8.6%) and Bucaramanga (10.2%). Cities with the highest unemployment rate are Quibdo (19.4%), Popayan (17.4%) and Cucuta (16.6%).
Since taking office in August 2010, President Juan Manuel Santos made job creation one of the pillars of his socio-economic policy. The country’s unemployment rate was 11.79% in 2010 and has since dropped to 10.38% in 2012. According to the president, he will be able to lower the rate to a one-digit number before the end of his term in 2014.
Monthly unemployment rates
Sources
- Mercado Laboral (DANE)