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The labor market in 2024 performed well in terms of job creation and showed an acceleration in the last three months. The average unemployment rate was 10.2% in 2024, the same as in 2023. However, in the last quarter, it dropped to 9.7% (seasonally adjusted), in line with the increase in job creation.

In Colombia, 76.4% of men are in the labour force. By contrast, only 52.1 per cent of women do so. This disparity, which is called the gender gap in the labour participation rate, is marked in Colombia, reaching 24.3 percentage points.

Signs indicate a gradual slowdown/normalization of the labor market, with NIFB survey trends suggesting no acceleration in employment, alongside lower Job openings and quits indicating slower wage growth.

Despite the labor market's resilience, the slowdown in job creation in 2023 is reflected by the 2.7 million additional jobs, considerably fewer than the previous year. The unemployment rate in December remained at 3.7%, largely explained by the decline in the labor force.

At the beginning of the pandemic, the jobs of Mexican migrants in the US contracted by 20%, but they are already 3.2% above pre-pandemic levels. However, the labor participation rate is at 66%, lower than pre-pandemic levels (68%); and the unemployment rate at 4.3%, above the average in 2019 (3.5%).

In December, the national unemployment rate was 11.0% and the urban unemployment rate was 11.6%, lower by 2.4 and 4.0 percentage points, respectively, than in December 2020, but higher than in December 2019.