The unemployment rate in Colombia reached 12.1 percent in April this
year, compared to 11.1 percent in the same month the previous year, national statistics department DANE announced Friday.
There are currently 2.5 million people unemployed in the country, compared to 2.2 million in 2008 said DANE director Hector Maldonado. In real terms this an increase of 688,000 unemployed people.
From February to April of this year, the city with the highest unemployment level was Pereira with 19.7 percent.
Housing Minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga expressed concern that there was an increase in unemployment among the sole breadwinners in Colombian families, which increased from 5.5 in the first trimester of 2008 to 6.5 percent in the the first trimester of 2009.