Colombia's unemployment rate increased to 20.2 percent in July amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) reported on Monday.
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The overall figure almost doubles last year's rate for the same period when unemployment reached 10.7 percent. In the 13 cities and metropolitan areas, the rate rose to 24,7 percent compared to 10.3 percent in July 2019.
These proportions illustrate that as of July, there were 4.6 million people unemployed, 1.9 million more compared to the twelve previous months.
#Empleo | En julio de 2020 la tasa de desempleo en el total nacional fue 20,2 % y en 13 ciudades y áreas metropolitanas fue 24,7 %. pic.twitter.com/Lbj4rHjcvB
— DANE Colombia (@DANE_Colombia) August 31, 2020
"Employment | In July 2020, the unemployment rate in the national total was 20.2%, and in 13 cities and metropolitan areas, it was 24.7%."
The DANE reports that in Colombia, trade and vehicle repairs were the activities that generated unemployment the most as 848.000 positions were lost.
Mainly the data shows that at a national level, women aged 25 to 54 are the most affected by unemployment, about 1.7 million. This is a trend in Latin America amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, when asked about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in their lives, about 48.1 percent of the unemployed said that they had no other source of income; 35.6 percent has not been able to look for a job, and 34.6 percent cannot pay their debts.
#Colombia | 'Cacerolazo' in Bogota against the government of #IvanDuque. #21NSomosTodos pic.twitter.com/JkavPIZdZP
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) November 22, 2019