Unemployment caused by covid 19

The pandemic caused by covid-19 came along with many factors including unemployment and this produces a chain of consequences on welfare, public health and the economy. In Colombia according to  "DANE" 3.79 million people were unemployed and only until June 2020, 195 million jobs were lost worldwide according to the BBC.

The situation we are experiencing implies great challenges for some people more than others, for example unemployment in Colombia brings with it a great gender problem. For November 2020 for every man who lost his job 2.2 women did so and it is also important to emphasize that it is more difficult for women to get and keep a job compared to a man (Morales, 2020).

On the other hand, it is important to point out that the most affected population is usually the one with the lowest educational level, those who live in small municipalities and are mostly young, and may be more likely to move from a formal job to an informal one and can remain trapped there even if the economy starts to grow again. Right here we can say that by June 2020, informal workers represented 46.2%, just under half of total employment; this situation has worsened due to the pandemic, because it has caused an increase in informality and the vulnerability of people who ceased economic activity.

The chart below shows the contribution of each sector to the change in total annual growth in employment in April 2020 . Industries with more  sub-sectors are excluded from the lock-in range, and these industries contribute less to employment reduction. For example,  the hotel industry and trade, were one of the  most affected by the quarantine policy (Morales et al., 2020).

(Morales et al., 2020)

Finally, it should be noted that there are some actions that the Colombian government could take to help reduce the unemployment rate; some of these are: to help the unemployed, the parafiscal contributions should be returned, encourage women to participate in decision-making spaces and face crises from a gender perspective and promote education, which is the key tool to help us to grow and improve as a country.

References

• Abadia, L. (2020). Las 20 propuestas para que Colombia venza al desempleo. Revista Semana. Retrieved 6 April 2021, from https://www.semana.com/pais/articulo/cuales-son-las-cifras-del-desempleo-en-colombia/301981/.
• Morales, L., Bonilla, L., Pulido, J., Florez, L., Hermida, D., Pulido, K., & Lasso, F. (2020). Effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Colombian Labor Market: Disentangling the Effect of Sector-Specific Mobility Restrictions. Repositorio Banco de la República. Retrieved 5 April 2021, from https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/bitstream/handle/20.500.12134/9900/be_1129.pdf?sequence=14&isAllowed=y. 
• Morales, L., Bonilla, L., Pulido, J., Florez, L., Hermida, D., Pulido, K., & Lasso, F. (2020). Contribution to the total employment annual growth change (apr. 2019 – apr.2020) [Image]. Retrieved 5 April 2021, from https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/bitstream/handle/20.500.12134/9900/be_1129.pdf?sequence=14&isAllowed=y.
• Morales, M. (2020). El desempleo: una pandemia que azota a Colombia [Blog]. Retrieved 6 April 2021, from https://universidadean.edu.co/blog/el-desempleo-una-pandemia-que-azota-colombia#:~:text=Mientras%20en%20Colombia%20se%20reportan,con%203.79%20millones%20de%20personas.
• Perilla, S. (2020). ‘La pandemia aportó ocho puntos adicionales a la tasa de desempleo'. El Tiempo. Retrieved 6 April 2021, from https://www.eltiempo.com/economia/sectores/desempleo-en-colombia-coronavirus-aporto-ocho-puntos-adicionales-a-la-tasa-541391.