Unemployment in Colombia declined again in March, reaching 8.8%. With this result, the country maintains the positive trend it has been carrying since 2024 and consolidates several consecutive months with single-digit figures, something that for years had remained elusive for the labor market.
In absolute terms, 2.34 million people were unemployed. Although the figure remains high, it confirms a sustained reduction compared to previous periods and reflects that the recovery in employment remains firm at the start of 2026.
Related: Colombia Holds Interest Rates Steady in May and June.
Colombia’s unemployment rate continued to decline in March
DANE released labor market data for the past month this Thursday. In the explanation, its director, Piedad Urdinola, reported that as of the end of March the unemployment rate stood at 8.8%, with 2.34 million people unemployed. She also revealed that the global participation rate stood at 65.0% and the employment rate at 59.3%; in March 2025 these rates were 64.7% and 58.5%, respectively.
These March figures confirm a clear downward trend in national unemployment. At the beginning of the year, the rate was 10.9% in January and dropped to 9.2% in February. March’s 8.8% deepens that decline and marks a consistent trajectory in the short term.
This trend is also reflected in the average for the first quarter—at 9.6% unemployment—which stands 0.9 percentage points below the level recorded in the same period last year. This suggests that the improvement is not due to a one-off factor, but rather to a more stable dynamic in the labor market. After years of double-digit rates, Colombia appears to have entered a different phase, at least in statistical terms.
¡El dato del día! 📉 En marzo de 2026, la tasa de desocupación se ubicó en 8,8%, una variación estadísticamente significativa frente a marzo de 2025, cuando fue del 9,6%.
📌 Esta es la tasa más baja en la serie histórica para un mes de marzo desde 2001. pic.twitter.com/jObgeTfogP
— DANE Colombia (@DANE_Colombia) April 30, 2026
More jobs, but with nuances
The decline in unemployment has gone hand in hand with an increase in the employed population. The number of people with jobs has grown steadily, driving down the unemployment rate and signaling an economy that continues to generate jobs.
However, not all the jobs created are of the same quality. A significant portion corresponds to self-employed workers, which highlights the persistent weight of informality. This type of employment helps reduce unemployment, but does not always guarantee stable income or access to social security, nor to tax contributions.
Sectoral performance also shows contrasts. Some sectors, such as services linked to the state, have led job creation, while sectors like industry or agriculture have shown weaker performance. This shows that the recovery of the labor market is not uniform.
In this regard, the data reveal that the sectors that contributed most positively to the change in the employed population were public administration and defense, education and human health care (1.6%); financial and insurance activities (1.0%); and electricity, gas, water supply, and waste management (0.5%).
When reviewing contributions by type of employment, it was determined that the self-employed and private-sector workers and employees contributed the most to the change in employment, with 1.9% and 1.0%, respectively.