Colombia | Employment slowdown deepens in August

In August, the unemployment rate stood at 9.4%, up from 8.6% in August 2025, interrupting the year-on-year declines observed month after month over the past two years. Meanwhile, employment fell by 0.5% year-on-year, equivalent to a loss of 126,000 jobs.

Key points

• Key points:
• By sector, industry (-240k), entertainment (-102k), and agriculture (-91k) lost jobs, while commerce (+150k) and public administration, health, and education (+96k) were the main generators.
• 128,000 formal jobs were created and 254,000 informal jobs were lost, reducing the informality rate from 55.7% in August 2025 to 54.9% in August 2026.
• The fall in employment was concentrated in the 13 main cities, which subtracted 0.8 p.p. from the annual variation, reversing their positive contribution of 0.3 p.p. in July. The rest of the country contributed 0.3 p.p.
• Job destruction was focused on non-salaried workers (-325k), mainly day laborers or peons (-154k) and domestic employment (-118k). Salaried employment grew by 199,000 jobs.
• The sharp deterioration in employment in August, particularly in urban and industrial areas and among informal workers, suggests that the earthquake intensified the ongoing slowdown.

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