In his weekly column Clear Accounts, Mauricio Galindo, economic editor of EL TIEMPO, presents interesting statistics surrounding the news of the past seven days.
Day laborers prevented unemployment
In January, the number of unemployed fell by 220,000 from a year ago. This is a very similar number to the new jobs created by the agriculture sector (244,000). Also, daily workers or laborers increased by the same number (258,000) during the month. Thus, One in two new jobs was in the agricultural sector, and one in two was in labor.
Archive / TIME
Assures with a dropper
During the campaign, it was promised to pay half of the minimum wage to everyone of pensionable age. With Friday's announcement that $233,000 will be paid to over-80s, it's clear it won't be $650,000 at half-minimum wage, or for everyone under retirement age.. 87% of pensioners are below 80 years of age. For 9 out of 10 of them, the promise is not fulfilled.
Only one in four of the required age are properly pensioned.
Federico Buo. EL TIEMPO Archive
Less production per person
The dimension of what happened with growth in 2023 is explained by production per citizen. Gross domestic product was a weak 0.6% for the year, while population grew by 1% during the period. In this way, per capita production ended in 2023, decreasing by 0.43% compared to 2022. That is, the economy was already under-producing with the number of people who had to meet their needs.
Bajo Siquito was the first Panamanian city for settlers to cross the Darien.
Where the Darien Crossers Live
Six out of every ten Venezuelans who cross the Darien live in Venezuela and two out of ten live in Colombia, according to an analysis published by the Bank of the Republic, based on data from the International Organization for Migration. According to the same report, most Colombians who make the trip, 97%, live in Venezuela.
Mauricio Galindo
Economics teacher
And X: @galmau
