Religion generates more profits and jobs in the country than ICT and the orange economy, says Dane

The National Statistics Department (DANE) revealed, in the construction of the satellite account of non-profit institutions with emphasis on religious institutions, that the religious sector in the country would be generating more than 200,000 jobs formally. The conclusion comes after studying factors related to education, health, psychological assistance, provision of services, among others.

“He has identified, from records of chambers of commerce, superintendencies, Dian and La Pila, that we are observing at least 260,000 formal jobs generated by more than 5,000 religious organizations that have a presence in the country. Religious organizations that are part of non-profit institutions are part of a group of entities that are preliminarily weighing 4.5% of the added value of the Colombian economy,” said the director of DANE, Juan Daniel Oviedo.

The religious sector, emphasizes that entity, generates jobs for people of all ages, particularly older adults or citizens of the elderly who, in most cases, are excluded from the labor market because of their age.

“That if non-profit institutions weigh 4.5% of the added value of the economy, it weighs more than the Information and Telecommunications (ICT) sector, which weighs 3.8% and weighs more than the Orange economy, which weighs 2.8%; so we are talking about a very important body for Colombian society,” he added. Juan Daniel Oviedo.

“The isolation was also social and spiritual because today only one in two adult Colombians has access to a support network, whereas in 2019 we had two out of three Colombians accessing support networks, that is, there are more isolated Colombians and belonging to religious organizations,” he added.

According to DANE, unemployment in Colombia fell during the month of February 2022. According to the entity, the figure stood at 12.9 per cent, which meant a decrease of 2.6 per cent compared to January. In February, 21.7 million Colombians were employed, which represented an increase of 1.5% compared to the same period in 2021, that is, 1.5 million more people working in the country.

“However, this reduction in the unemployed population fails to compensate for the most important element and that is the increase in 886,000 people who entered unemployment between February 2020 and February 2021, that is, we see a much faster compensatory dynamic in relation to employed personnel, but not necessarily to the population unoccupied, where we are seeing approximately only 60% of the loss that was generated in 2021 compared to 2020,” clarified the director of Dane, Juan Daniel Oviedo.

According to the entity, the territories in which the attainment of employment increased the most were Tunja, Florence, Popayán, Valledupar, Quibdo, Neiva, Riohacha, Santa Marta, Armenia and Sincelejo, where 1.1 million people were employed

“The breakdown by branch of economic activity of this growth in employed people in February 2022, leads us to remind us that the sector that weighs the most in terms of job generation in the country is the vehicle trade and repair sector that accumulates approximately 19% of the national population employed throughout the territory national”, reported Oviedo.

According to Oviedo, the trade sector continues to be the strongest in the economic recovery in the country. In the second month of this year alone, this area contributed to the recovery of 335,000 jobs. “In other words, we see the vehicle trade and repair sector as the most important driver in this reactivation agenda,” the official said.

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