Economy & Business - February 2022

URUGUAY | Unemployment falls to lowest point in four years. Uruguay’s national statistics institute (INE) released the latest figures for unemployment on 1 February. After reaching a 14-year high of 11.2% in October 2020, amid the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, Uruguay’s unemployment rate has now fallen to 7% in December 2021, the lowest figure recorded by the INE since December 2017. The employment rate stood at 57.7% at the end of last year, with 9.2% of the employed population considered to be under-employed, and 21.8% working informally, without a social security register. Unemployment is somewhat lower in the capital Montevideo (6.6%) than in the rest of the country (7.3%), while women are hit by unemployment much more than men: the unemployment rate last December was 8.5% amongst women compared with 5.8% amongst men.