The number of people employed in the country fell to 58.2% in the month of August, reported the National Institute of Statistics (INE)a fall that is largely explained by the consequences that the exchange difference with Argentina has on the coastal labor market and the impact of economic activity at the national level.
In it Uruguay There are about 152,300 workers looking for work without finding it, which raised the unemployment rate to 8.2%. In any case, if compared with previous surveys, the trend-cycle remains stable compared to July, at levels similar to 2016 and above a year ago, when the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic was still felt.
When evaluating the INE data by geographic region, the decline in the labor market in the month of August occurred particularly in the interior, with a drop in the employment rate of half a point, going from 58.1% to 57. 6%, while unemployment rises from 8.1 to 8.8% as a result of the exchange difference with Argentina.
The official data for August are the prelude to what could be a change in trend for labor indicators in the border area after, at the beginning of September, it was known that in the disaggregated coastal departments they had managed to reduce unemployment .
In fact, the unemployment rates for the moving quarter from May to July, published by the National Institute of Statistics, had shown that Salto, Paysandú, Rio Negro and Artigas They had managed to lower their unemployment rates after several months. This is information measured by geographic area of residence.
Río Negro was the department that achieved the greatest decrease in unemployment, going from 14.8% to 13.4%. Meanwhile, the activity rate rose 0.1%, reaching a total of 66.5%, while the employment rate rose 1%, reaching 56.6%.
Salto, the coastal department hardest hit by the exchange difference with Argentinarecorded a 0.5% drop in the unemployment rate in the third moving quarter, going from 13.3% in the previous quarter to 12.8% for May-July.
Source: Ambito
