00:00Welcome back. In Colombia, economic policies are bearing fruit in areas such as poverty
00:04and unemployment. The figures were highlighted by the government of Gustavo Petro and acknowledged
00:08by analysts, political, trade union and business organization. Correspondent Dan Tobar with the
00:13details. On the third year of President Petro's administration, the National Statistics Department
00:25reported in June 2025, the lowest unemployment rate, 8.6%, compared to 10.3% in 2024, which
00:35meant that approximately 500,000 more people were employed. There has been a policy that has allowed
00:48in spite of the announced crisis, which is not true in economic matters. The population is recovering
00:54through the policies and opportunities provided by this progressive and alternative government.
01:03Opportunities to seek employment to satisfy their basic needs and for the significant reduction of
01:08unemployment and, of course, of inequality and poverty. Because a family that can access a job,
01:14a decent job, a decent job, because work has to consider the nature of human beings and the
01:19satisfaction of their fundamental needs. The sectors that have contributed to the fall in unemployment
01:30are services, agriculture, and tourism, areas in which there could be greater projection if the
01:35policies of promotion and investment continue, according to the workers' centers. Colombia is one of the most
01:44inequitable countries in the world. This inequality is impressive and this concentration of power and
01:50wealth did not translate into benefits for the majority of the Colombian people, but rather for a
01:55minority population that made of the country what they wanted. Today we see a different possibility and
02:00that is why we hope that the process that the people are going through will show that we need to
02:04continue with this political project, so that there will be an alternative and progressive government
02:09that will join these initiatives. Another indicator of good economic management and social policies is the
02:22reduction of monetary poverty, which by 2024 has the lowest rates in history, which means that at least two million
02:28people will be lifted out of this condition. Monetary poverty is a calculation of a line and it is calculated if the
02:39income per person in a household is less than 460,000 pesos per month.
02:44This means that people are below the monetary poverty line, and if it is higher, they are above it.
02:56It is an indicator, it will not be the most perfect, but it is one of the indicators we have to be able to
03:01understand the progress of poverty.
03:10In Colombia, monetary poverty has been calculated in the same way since 2012, which allows us to make comparisons
03:17between years of how poverty evolves. What comes out in the figures, and what the President mentioned yesterday in his speech,
03:24is that we have reached 31.8% of households below the monetary poverty line, which is the lowest since 2012 and represents a strategic
03:33and important advance in this area.
03:39For analysts, the economic policy promoted by the executive has achieved significant progress.
03:48Important data such as the drop in inflation, which stood at 4.8% for the month of June of this year,
03:54the lowest figure since 2021, while the considerable increase in the minimum wage, which has ranged between
04:009.53% and 16% has been maintained.
04:06Hernán Darío Tobar, Gaitán Telesur, Bogotá, Colombia.
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