economy

Unemployment rate drops

Jorge Fernandez/LA PRENSA

still strong:Panama’s economy has shown no signs of slowing down as unemployment continues to drop.1029194

Panama's economy is still growing, according to the latest unemployment figures.

According to a report from the Contraloría General de la República, the country's overall unemployment rate fell from 7.3 percent to 6.3 percent. Unemployment in indigenous areas fell by 2 percent.

In urban areas, the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent, while the interior of the country had a much smaller rate of 3.5 percent, according to statistics from the Mercado Laboral.

These statistics, said economist and university professor Alejandro Cordero, reveal the current economic reality, namely a large number of projects that are being started with a shortage of available manpower.

The situation is beginning to have an impact in rural areas, he said, where there is a shortage of laborers to work on farms, which in turn is going to have an impact on food prices.

But the economist said that the decrease in the country's unemployment rate has not significantly improved wages for workers.

"There should be an increase in wages to level out the market, but that has not happened, " he said.

Business leader José Javier Rivera said that the decline in the unemployment rate is good news, because it allows people entering the labor market to have access to social security benefits along with their paychecks.

Rivera said that the falling unemployment rate is partly attributable to the increase in training taking place in the public and private sectors.