Central region had the lowest unemployment in the semester

In the first half of the year, the Orinoquía, Amazonía and insular regions had the highest unemployment rate. For the period, these three regions, together, had a rate of 15.8%, a drop of 30 basis points compared to the data for the second half of 2021 (16.1%).

(See: Unemployment, dollar, GDP and more: economy that receives President Petro).

This was revealed by Dane in its six-monthly measurement by labor market regions, which included for the first time the data for this area that groups Arauca, Casanare, Putumayo, Amazonas, Guainía, Guaviare, Vaupés, Vichada and San Andrés.

Likewise, the statistical entity pointed out that the central region had the lowest unemployment rate in this period, being 11.4%.

This means that against the second half of last year there was an improvement of 40 basis points, given that for this period, the indicator was 11.8%. In this, the entity takes into account seven departments (Coffee Region, Antioquia and Caquetá). In other words, within its data, cities such as Manizales are taken into account, the second city with the lowest unemployment in the April-June moving quarter, with 10.4%.

(See: Unemployment and finances, the biggest concerns of young people).

It was followed by the Pacific region, whose data was 11.5%, a decrease from 11.8% seen in the second half of last year. However, in this region is Quibdó, the city with the highest unemployment rate in the moving quarter (20.6%). These figures are tempered by other capitals such as Popayán (11.4%) and Pasto (11.6%).

According to the information disclosed, the eastern region (comprising Norte de Santander, Santander, Boyacá, Cundinamarca, Meta) is the next with the highest figure, having reached 13.1% in this period.

However, this adds Bucaramanga, which for the last quarter, was the capital with the lowest unemployment in the country (8.4%). Luis Gonzalo Gómez, general director of the city’s Municipal Employment and Business Development Institute, explains that this was achieved thanks to a rapid reopening of the economy, due to the speed of vaccination.

(See: Cities with the highest and lowest unemployment rates in the second quarter).

Likewise, he stressed that free employment and training campaigns are developed in this, which allows for qualified labor.

However, the eastern region was one of the two regions that had increases in the consolidated compared to the second half of 2021, when it was 12.7%. This is explained by counting cities such as Cúcuta, whose unemployment was 14.6% in the quarter between April and June; or Tunja with 13.6% for the same period.

Another region that showed an increase was the Caribbean (Atlántico, Bolívar, Cesar, Córdoba, Sucre, Magdalena, La Guajira).. In this, the unemployment data increased by one percentage point, and reached 11.8% in 2022.

Fernando Herrera, director of Cesare (Center for Socioeconomic and Regional Studies), explained that in Valledupar, for example, the case is critical.

According to the expert, it is a structural problem that reflects, on the one hand, that the economic dynamic does not allow the creation of companies and that there have been a lack of regional policies that allow the creation of new jobs.

This has led Valledupar, along with Quibdó, to remain in the top 5 of the cities with the highest unemployment in recent years.

“There are critical points like Quibdó and Valledupar, which deserve special attention,” he says. and affirms that it could, for example, create a job bank.

Likewise, he points out that to help solve the structural problem, professionals are required, Therefore, a policy focused on education is needed.

“This should be a priority policy of the new government, especially for cities like these that have a structural problem related to unemployment,” said the expert.

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