DANE director Piedad Urdinola clarified discrepancies between her agency's employment figures and those from Ugpp, citing different sources and methodologies. This follows criticism from Andi, which claims half a million formal jobs lost since 2023. DANE measures the labor market through direct surveys, while Andi relies on social security contributors.
Andi president Bruce Mac Master criticized DANE's February labor market data, released on March 30. According to Mac Master, half a million formal jobs have been lost since 2023, with families turning to odd jobs and informality. "The Government that prided itself on defending workers has expelled more than 500,000 people from the only labor system that grants them rights," he said, pointing to inconsistencies with Ugpp and Pilas data, such as 13.35 million contributors in December 2025.
DANE reported a 9.2% unemployment rate, the lowest for a February since 2001, with 23.8 million employed in 2025: 13.2 million informal (55.7%) and 10.5 million formal (44.3%). Of 624,000 new jobs in the past year, 244,000 were in public administration, education, and health.
Piedad Urdinola clarified: "These are different sources of information, with different methodologies and scopes." DANE uses the Gran Encuesta Integrada de Hogares (Geih), based on direct reports from individuals and ILO standards. Informality is measured by lack of business registration, accounting, or health and pension contributions; all public workers are formal by definition.
Sectors like agriculture lost 363,000 occupations over the past year, per DANE, followed by transport (86,000) and construction (38,000).
