Unemployment rates in Colombia before the quarantine were approximately 12%, yes, 12 out of every 100 people in the productive stage were unemployed, that starting the year but now everything has changed.

So far this year there have been a lot of businesses that have closed, I have seen them, I work in the sales area and some clients have closed definitively, so I can say that it is true.

In the same way I have known about people who have become unemployed, and if we consider that in this city (Bogotá) there is a lot of informal economy, that they cannot work in the street because of the measures that the government has ordered, surely that the situation is really serious. A few weeks ago they made an unofficial announcement that this 12% had increased to 23%. 11% increase in unemployment so far this year.

But, this does not come alone, unfortunately there has been a substantial increase in the crime rate, it is not justified that this happens but it is to be expected. There are those who do not mind using any activity to achieve their livelihood.

In the face of this, I have doubts:

How can you counteract this unemployment situation?

It is the creation of jobs that could slow down this reality that is becoming increasingly tangible. At least that's what I think. These jobs are generally generated by the private sector, since states do not have (most of the time) that capacity to hire so many people. But with so many prohibitions it's a little difficult for anyone to want to go big, at least not while this situation is there. Some will wait for everything to stabilize a bit before doing so, but we are certainly not talking about weeks. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate continues to rise, and with it poverty, crime and insecurity.

Nor can they meet the food demand of the entire population that is unemployed. Here (in Bogotá) they are giving some bonuses to help families, 160,000 Colombian pesos (COP), the equivalent of about 50 dollars, but, the reality is that that is not enough for much, even less if we consider that a family could have 3 or 4 members, or more, so it does not satisfy that need but for our days. It's not a solution.

In talking about all this we cannot fail to mention that while there are people who will go out on the streets to take what belongs to others, to commit theft or robbery, there are also those who will prefer to go begging, unfortunately I have also seen many cases on the streets lately.

And like this, many consequences from this new reality that we have, which in South America is expressed in this way, but, I have no idea how all this is going in the countries of Europe that have been affected and that has had repercussions with closures of companies, commercial premises, etc.

I'd like to know if you have any comments on this, thank you very much for your reading.

_{Are there special plans to avoid this situation in your country?}