Unemployment in July in Colombia fell to 8.8%, the lowest figure for a July since 2001. With these results, in addition to consolidating positive scores in this aspect of the Colombian economy, the country returns to pre-pandemic levels, although more than half of workers remain in the informal sector.
Another issue that remains unresolved is the gender gap. With the data from the seventh month of the year, the unemployment rate for men was 7.1% and for women, 11.1%, with a gap of 4.4 percentage points.
By sector, the number of self-employed workers is increasing, now standing at just over 1 million fewer than private sector wage earners, which continue to lead the total number of jobs in Colombia.
Colombia’s July unemployment rate drops to 8.8%, the lowest since 2001
The National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) released the labor market report for July, which specified that the unemployment rate for that month stood at 8.8%, the best figure for July in the past 24 years.
This figure improves by 1.1 percentage points compared to July of last year, when unemployment stood at 9.9% of Colombia’s active population. Currently, a total of 2.3 million working-age Colombians are unemployed.
“This 2025 has been a good year for the labor market, with historic unemployment rates,” said Piedad Urdinola, DANE’s director, during the presentation of the July labor report.
Urdinola highlighted that both employment and labor force participation resemble the levels observed in 2018, two years before the pandemic, suggesting a solid labor market recovery.
One of the few dark spots in these positive labor market results, in addition to the traditional high number of workers still in the informal sector — exceeding 50% of the total — is the gender gap. In this regard, the gap stood at 4.4% last month, with an even larger gap in the employment rate: 71.3% for men and 47.5% for women.
¡El dato del día! 📉 En julio de 2025, la tasa de desocupación se ubicó en 8,8%, una variación estadísticamente significativa frente a julio de 2024, cuando fue del 9,9%.
📌 Esta tasa es la más baja de toda la serie desde 2001 para julio. pic.twitter.com/sZhnNvlX2V
— DANE Colombia (@DANE_Colombia) August 29, 2025
Sectors driving employment in Colombia
Job creation was concentrated in three key sectors: accommodation and food services (with an increase of 186,000 jobs); transportation and storage (with a growth of 172,000 jobs); and professional and administrative activities (which grew by 156,000 jobs).
Trade and vehicle repair, which remains the country’s largest employer, with 4.06 million workers, also added 92,000 new jobs compared to last July.
A major factor in this has been the exponential growth of tourism, especially international tourism, which continues to break records year after year in Colombia. According to the latest official data, the arrival of foreign visitors grew by 6.6% between January and May compared with the same period last year.
By sector, private wage employment grew the most: 10.8 million workers were employed as private-sector laborers or employees, 769,000 more than a year ago. Self-employment, which has been growing significantly in 2025, also advanced to 9.77 million, an increase of 170,000 jobs.
In contrast, the number of employers declined, falling to 517,000 — a notable loss of 117,000 compared with 2024 figures.
Related: Colombia’s Unemployment Keeps Falling as 2026 Minimum Wage Talks Begin.