TABLE-Colombia's unemployment rates fall in December - RTRS

Today 11:07

BOGOTA, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Colombia's unemployment rates fell in December versus the same month last year, the government's DANE statistics agency said on Tuesday.

The urban unemployment rate in the Andean nation, based on surveys in Colombia's 13 biggest cities, decreased to 10.4 percent in December versus 11.3 percent in December 2010.

Colombia's urban rate is more closely watched by financial markets than the national figure because close to 70 percent of the country's workforce is in large cities.

The national unemployment rate went down to 9.8 percent last month from 11.1 percent in the same month in 2010, the DANE statistics agency said.

The jobless figures are not seasonally adjusted and can be volatile, depending on factors like peak shopping and vacation months when retail and tourism employment generally rises.