According to data provided by the Uruguayan National Institute of Statistics (INE) 58.2% of the working age population –older than 14 years old- where working on February 2017. This figure is above the 57.3% of January 2017, and very similar to the 58.3% of February 2016.

Data from the labor market is linked to a strong seasonality –there are economic processes that occur during a specific time of the year- and that fact prevents us from reading the monthly data in a lineal way.

However, the rise of employment is February 2017 was rather significant. This year, the indicator grew 0.9% during the second month of the year, while the average of the past decade for that month was a 0.2% increase.

This means that 26 thousand jobs were created between January and February. When compared to February 2016 the number of employed people grew on 9 thousand people.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate grew 0.1% during the last month –from 8.1% to 8.1%-. As regards the same month in 2016, the increase was of 0.2%.

What seems a contradiction in the evolution of both rate is explained because unemployment is calculated based on the entire number of working Uruguayans.

In other words, it only considers those who work, or who are looking for a job. This way, unemployment can grow because employment goes down and because a larger number of Uruguayans are looking for a job.

This is what happened last February, when the activity rate went from 62.4% to 63.3% of the working age population in comparison to January.

Source: El Observador