The national unemployment rate was 8.9% for the April–June 2025 quarter (AMJ 2025), according to information from the National Employment Survey (ENE), which is produced by the National Statistics Institute (INE).

The year-on-year increase in the unemployment rate (0.6 pp) can be attributed to the rise in the labour force and the lack of variation in employed persons. The increase in unemployed persons (7.2%) was influenced by the rises in the redundant (6.1%) and first-time job seekers (19.2%).

Compared to the same period in the previous year, the participation rate decreased 0.2 pp to stand at 61.9% and the employment rate decreased 0.5 pp to stand at 56.4%. The increase in the population outside the labour force (1.4%) was influenced by the rises in inactive persons who are potentially active (10.0%) and future starters (2.7%).

The unemployment rate for women increased 0.9 pp year on year to stand at 9.9%. The increase was due to the faster growth in the labour force (1.2%) than in employed women (0.2%). Meanwhile, the number of unemployed women increased 11.5%. For women, the participation rate increased 0.1 pp to stand at 52.9% and the employment rate decreased 0.3 pp to stand at 47.7%. The increase in women outside the labour force (0.6%) was influenced by the growth in inactive persons who are potentially active and future starters.

The unemployment rate for men (8.1%) increased 0.2 pp year on year as a result of the increase in the labour force (0.1%) and the decrease in employed men (-0.1%). In the same period, the number of unemployed men increased 3.4% while the participation rate fell 0.6 pp to stand at 71.3% and the employment rate fell 0.7 pp to stand at 65.5%. The expansion in the number of men outside the labour force (2.9%) was influenced by the routinely inactive and inactive persons who are potentially active.

Increase in employed persons

The estimated total number of employed persons showed no year-on-year variation. The lack of variation was due to the increase in employed women (0.2%) being offset by the decrease in the number of employed men (-0.1%).

According to economic sector, the lack of variation in the employed population can be attributed to the combined effect of the increases in mining (14.4%) and communications (18.2%) and the decreases in commerce (-2.6%) and public administration (-7.2%). By occupational category, the main increase was in wage earners of the formal sector (1.6%) and the main decrease was in own-account workers (-4.6%).

Labour informality

The informal employment rate fell 1.0 pp year on year to stand at 26.0%. The decrease in informally employed persons (-3.8%) was influenced by the falls in men (-3.7%) and women (-4.0%).

By economic sector, the decrease in the informally employed can mainly be attributed to the falls in commerce (-9.1%) and construction (-7.0%). By occupational category, the decrease was influenced by the falls in own-account workers (-6.5%) and wage earners of the public sector (-13.5%).

Seasonality

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (which eliminates the effects of exogenous seasonal factors of a non-economic nature that influence its current behavior) stood at 8.9%, showing no variation compared to the previous moving quarter.

Working hours and indicators of labour underutilization

The volume of work, as measured by the quantity of hours per week actually worked by employed persons, decreased 0.9% year on year while the average number of hours worked fell 0.9% to stand at 36.9 hours. Men worked an average of 39.0 hours, and women worked an average of 34.2 hours.

The combined rate of unemployment and the potential labour force increased 1.1 pp year on year to stand at 16.8%. This indicator stood at 14.3% for men and 19.9% for women, and the gender gap was 5.6 pp.

Metropolitan Region 

In the Metropolitan Region, the unemployment rate for the April–June 2025 quarter increased 1.3 pp year on year to stand at 9.5%. In the same period, the estimated decrease in the total number of employed persons was 0.5%. By economic sector, the main influences on the decrease were the falls in commerce (-4.8%) and transport (-10.1%).

Policy of Revision and Updating of Figures of the 2025 ENE

In accordance with the policy of revision and updating of the results of the National Employment Survey (ENE), INE has implemented its fifth version of the revision and update, which analyzes the period from February-March-April 2024 to January-February-March 2025, with the possibility of incorporating other improvements outside this period. The details of this process are given in its respective technical supplement.

With the revision and updating of ENE figures, the National Statistics Institute reaffirms its commitment to the public to continue the production and dissemination of quality official statistical information in a timely, rigorous, and updated manner, in accordance with international best practices.

New experimental dimension of analysis:

Mismatches of qualifications according to education level

The International Labor Organization (ILO) has provided guidelines for the measurement of labour force underutilization at the 19th International Conference of Labor Statisticians (ICLS), which was accompanied by the document “Guidelines concerning measurement of qualifications and skills mismatches of persons in employment” (20th ICLS).

In accord with these recommendations, INE has incorporated into the survey a new dimension of experimental analysis on the measurement of the mismatch of qualifications by educational level according to the updated International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) of 2011.

INE has adopted the proposed methodology of the ILO, matching each level of the ISCED with a group of workers of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) and dividing them into those with under-education, adequate education, and over-education to create an indicator of underutilization by educational level.

The information is retroactively available to all users from the January–March 2017 quarter onwards in the survey databases and statistical tables (Excel tabs), and the information will soon be available on the SIMEL dissemination platform.

A note to users

In accordance with reporting from July 2024, when ENE stopped publishing and updating the databases in .sav format, all data in this format have finally been removed from our institutional website in their entirety. The .dta and .csv formats will be maintained as will information in the codebook of the survey, which includes a guide for converting databases into the .dta and .sav formats.

See:

ENE National Bulletin no. 321: April - June 2025

ENE RM Bulletin no. 109: April - June 2025 (in Spanish)

ENE Statistical Note, no. 39: April - June 2025 (in Spanish)

Technical supplement: Policy of Revision and Updating of Figures of the National Employment Survey (ENE) - 2025 (in Spanish)

National Employment Survey (ENE) Presentation of Results - 30 July 2025 (in Spanish)