Colombia’s unemployment rate may rise to double digits again, said a former director of the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE) on Tuesday.
The DANE will release its monthly report for January on Wednesday and the former director Cesar Caballero warned that the news is not likely to be good.
Unemployment fell to the single digits in the last few months of 2011 but this is not likely to continue due to the drop off in commercial activity after the new year, said Caballero.
According to the DANE, the unemployment rate stood at 13.5% in January 2011 with more than 2 million Colombians out of work.
Unemployment typically drops a bit in February as the economy picks up momentum but Caballero expressed regret that much of this increase in employment is due to temporary work.
