¿Cómo se comportan las tasas de desempleo en siete ciudades Colombianas?

Unemployment has been an important issue in Colombia because of the high rates observed since the 1980's, yet few studies have addressed the problem taking into account the differences between regions and cities. This paper examines the disparities and long-term relations between the unemployment rates of the seven largest cities in Colombia. First, a dispersion index is calculated to measure cross city disparities. In the second part of the analysis, the Johansen cointegration test is used to evaluate the existence of long-term relations. The paper identifies a procyclical behaviour of the unemployment rates disparities. When the economy slows down (grows) the disparities tend to decrease (increase). The cointegration analysis supports the idea of long-term relations between the unemployment rates of each city and the average, as well as a stable relation between the seven cities as a group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]