Colombia unemployment rises to 9.4% in August

Colombia's unemployment rate rose to 9.4% in August, an increase of 0.8 percentage points compared to the 8.6% recorded in August 2025, according to the national statistics agency DANE. The agency counted 2.44 million unemployed individuals during the month, which is 207,000 more than in the same period a year earlier.

The overall participation rate reached 63.3%, while the employment rate fell 1.1 percentage points to 57.4% from 58.4% in August 2025. Total employed workers dropped by 131,000 to 23.68 million across formal and informal positions. Manufacturing saw a 1.0 percentage point contraction, while artistic, entertainment, and recreation activities fell 0.4 percentage points, combined cutting more than 340 positions.

Primary activities including agriculture, livestock, and hunting fell approximately 4.0 percentage points, with positions dropping from 3,153 to 3,062. Real estate fell by 31 jobs and financial and insurance activities dropped by 27 jobs. In contrast, retail and vehicle repair, public administration and defense, construction, and transport added 375 new jobs.

By occupational category, day laborer and farmhand positions dropped by 154, domestic work fell by 117, and self-employment declined by 57. Across cities, Quibdo reported the highest unemployment rate at 23.8%, followed by Cartagena at 14.4% and Sincelejo at 12.9%. Bucaramanga posted the lowest rate at 7.3%, followed by Medellin at 7.5% and Bogota at 7.9%. The population outside the labor force totaled 15.15 million people, of which 53.9% conducted household chores and 23.5% studied.