The labor market began 2023 with a negative balance. Yesterday he Dane provided the figures for the first month of the year, and although there was an improvement in the employment and unemployment figures in relation to those of January 2022 (14.6%), the first month of the year showed an unemployment rate of 13.7%.
According to Leonardo Trujillo, deputy director of Dane, the decrease in unemployment compared to January 2022 “It is mainly due to the increase in the employed population of women”, with which it went from 3.5 million unemployed in January 2022 to 3.4 million, a reduction of 139,000 people.
(Also read: Revive the unemployment figures in Colombia for January 2023).
On the side of the employed, in January 2023 there were 21.4 million workers in the country, 796,000 more in relation to the 20.6 million that were in January 2022; in the case of the population outside the labor force a decrease of 115,000 people was seen, going from 14.5 million in January of last year to 14.3 million for the first month of this year.
“The labor market deteriorated further in January. The unemployment rate increased sequentially in the month, despite the fact that there was a marginal increase in employment, standing at 13.7%, compared to 10.3% in December”, highlighted an analysis by Banco Itaú.
(We recommend: The unemployment rate in Colombia for January 2023 was 13.7%).
Sergio Olarte, chief economist at Scotiabank Colpatria indicated that this figure marks a decrease compared to January last year, taking into account that “Januarys are usually months where unemployment rises a lot because after December all the temporary jobs stop being there and there is a recomposition in the new projects of each one of the companies”.
However, according to the expert, in the indicator “in the margin, that is, if we compare it with December of last year, we already have five months with unemployment deteriorating a bit in the Colombian economy”.
(More: 15% of the Colombian population lives in extreme poverty: Cepal).
Likewise, the Anif economic studies center mentioned that although historically unemployment in January tends to be higher in the rest of the year due to seasonal factors, On this occasion, the loss of employment seems to be due to more structural factors in the labor market.
“Proof of this is that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 11.4%, continuing the upward trend that began in October 2022.”, highlighted Anif. The center for economic studies also warned about how the weak state of the labor market does not allow employment to grow, “since there is no job offer properly trained to meet the demand for jobs”.
(In addition: Flexible education, another way to reduce gaps).
Additionally, according to the institution, January captures the impact of the rise in the minimum wage on the labor market, which would be one more obstacle to the creation of formal employment.
María Claudia Llanes, BBVA Research economist for Colombia, also said that in 2023 job creation will continue to slow down at the pace of the economy, noting that in January there were contractions in sectors such as public administration, health and education.
On the other hand, the director of the Colombian American Chamber of Commerce, AmCham Colombia, María Claudia Lacouture, mentioned that given whereas analyzes show that the pace of new job creation is slowing, This should be kept in mind in the discussion of the labor reform.
“It is important that it stimulates the generation of employment so that the business fabric, which is made up of more than 90% of micro-enterprises, can continue contributing to generating opportunities for the growth of the country.”, he indicated.
LAURA LUCIA BECERRA ELEJALDE
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