Colombia’s unemployment rate dropped slightly in 2010, ending the year 0.2% lower, according to the national statistics department DANE, newspaper El Espectador reported Monday.
The unemployment rate in Colombia at the close of 2010 was 12%, compared to 11.8% at the end of 2009 according to a report by DANE.
This indicates that some 2.5 million Colombians are currently out of work.
In metropolitan areas, the unemployment rate decreased by a larger margin in the same time period, from 13% in December 2009 to 11.3% in the same month in 2010.
The city of Quibdo has the most citizens out of work, with an unemployment rate of 20.3% in the last quarter of 2010. The cities of Pereira and Armenia follow, with unemployment rates of 18.8 and 18.4% respectively.
The cities with the lowest unemployment rates are San Andres (7.8%), Bogota (8.6%) and Cartagena (8%).
Over 700,000 jobs were created in 2010, according to the director of the national statistics department, Jorge Bustamante.
