By Juan David Cano, CAMBIOColombia, July 31, 2025
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
This July 31, Colombia’s National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) released a report that includes figures for employment, unemployment, and informal work. It offers an updated outlook on the country’s employment situation.
The unemployment rate in Colombia was at 8.6% in June of 2025, according to the most recent DANE report. That figure represents a reduction of 1.7% compared to last year (10.3%) and is the lowest unemployment rate for the month of June since at least 2018.
In a parallel, the nation’s employment rate went from 57.2% in June 2024 to 58.4% in 2025, while the global employment rate went from 63.7% to 63.9%, representing sustained recovery of the labor market.
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The economy added more than 830,000 new employed persons.
The total number of persons having jobs in the period that was measured rose to 23,750,000, which represents an increase of 831,000 people compared to June 2024, when the figure was 22,920,000.
The largest contribution to this growth resulted from self-employment, which increased by 443,000, and from laborers and individual employees, with 305,000 newly employed. There was also an increase in agricultural laborers (+144,000) and public employees (+110,000).
Industry, health, and public services led the upturn.
Major contributions to generating new jobs came from three key sectors:
- Manufacturing industries: +316,000 new jobs
- Public administration, education and health: +241,000
- Furnishing electricity, gas, water, and waste management (including mining waste): +137,000
Other sectors with positive variations were commerce (+106,000), accommodation and food service (+82,000), and agriculture (+48,000). In contrast, some sectors showed declines, such as information and communication (-124,000), and artistic and recreational activities (-68,000).
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CITIES WITH BETTER AND WORSE UNEMPLOYMENT
In the group of the 13 major cities and metropolitan areas, unemployment was also reduced, from 10.2% in 2014 to 8.3% in 2025, a drop of 1.9 percentage points. There, the rate of employment increased to 60.9% and the rate of work force participation rose to 66.4%, which indicates an improved urban work force dynamic.
According to the quarterly ranking (April-June 2025), the cities with the lowest rate of unemployment were:
- Bucaramanga A.M.: 7.3%
- Medellín A.M.: 7.8%
- Santa Marta: 7.7%
At the other extreme, the highest levels of unemployment were registered in:
*Quibdo: 26.2%
*Riohacha: 14.5%
*Ibague: 12.9%
Gender disparity persists in the labor market.
In spite of the general improvement in the statistics, women continue to confront more barriers to obtaining and maintaining employment. In June 2025, the rate of unemployment for women was 10.8%, while the rate for men was 6.9%, a gap of 3.9 percentage points.
There were also differences in the rate of employment, which was 46.8% for women and 71.1% for men, while in the global rate of work force participation, women were at the rate of 53.4%, with 76.3% for men.
Home-related activities and studies are the main reasons women are not in the work force.
In June, 14.6 million people were not in the work force. More than half (54.4%) were dedicated to household-related functions, while 22.8% were studying. Other reasons for being out of the work force included receiving pensions, permanent disability, or having no interest in employment.