Anif has warned about the consequences of 'intermittent formality' in Colombia's labor market, affecting the accumulation of quoted weeks and social protection. According to Asofondos, only one in four workers accesses a pension due to persistent informality. This leads to employment precarization and challenges for the retirement of millions of Colombians.
Colombia's labor market shows improvements, with informality reduced to 55.1% this year and unemployment at 8.2% in September, according to Anif. However, the entity highlights that formality has a 'temporary face', with active contributors decreasing and inactive ones increasing. Until May 2024, the difference between active and inactive affiliates was narrowing, but in June inactives surpassed actives by 779,000 people. By August 2025, 47% are active and 53% inactive, with a gap of 1.2 million.
This intermittency implies frequent disaffiliations, reducing quoted weeks for pensions and weakening protection in old age. Anif notes that 'frequent rotation may reflect precarization of formal employment, where short-term contracts without contributions become the norm, eroding traditional stability'.
Meanwhile, Asofondos estimates that only 25% of workers achieve a pension, while 75% spend more than a third of their working life in informality or unemployment. Women have contributed less than 23% of the time (for example, a 30-year-old woman has contributed 1.8 years instead of 8), and men less than 27% (2.2 years). 'Informality is a current and future problem, a time bomb for the old age of millions of Colombians', said Andrés Velasco, president of Asofondos. Addressing this 'labor gap' could increase pensions by 50% to 70%.
Proposals include promoting formalization, productivity, and quality employment to mitigate these effects.
