According to the entity’s latest report, although 278,946 contracts were created last year, the rate of growth is lower than that reported in 2022 and 2023.

Economists estimate that the indicator recorded in 2024 was 26.3 per cent lower than that of 2019, when the economy generated 445,722 new contracts, proving the difficulty of generating more formal jobs.

Currently, the unemployment rate in Panama is 9.5 per cent, according to the survey conducted by the Comptroller General’s Office, which represents an increase of 2.1 percentage points compared to August 2023.

In comparison, the percentage of informal workers reached 49.3 per cent, exceeding the level reported in the eighth month of the same year.

Another aspect that worries researchers is that 73 per cent of new contracts registered at the national level were for a fixed period or for completed work, while only 73,350 were of an indefinite nature, which limits workers’ access to credit and bank financing because they do not have job stability.

According to business consultant René Quevedo, the crisis in Panama is not one of employment, but of confidence.

In his opinion, the behaviour of contracts is directly related to the lower level of private investment, as a result of the loss of investment grade and the increase in interest rates for bank financing of the productive sector, which has affected the economy’s capacity to generate formal jobs.

Economist Raúl Moreira also told La Prensa newspaper that Panama lacks a strategy to reverse the rise in unemployment and informality; on the contrary, it allows practices that violate the provisions of the Labour Code.

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