Reviewed archive · June 23, 2026
Ecuador's unemployment rate was 3.1% in May 2026
Originally published June 23, 2026 · Reviewed September 25, 2026
Ecuador's national unemployment rate was 3.1% in May 2026, compared with 4.1% in May 2025, according to the national statistics office INEC. Its estimate represented about 86,000 fewer people unemployed than a year earlier.
The same survey put adequate employment at 36.6%, subemployment at 18.3% and informal employment at 52.8% of employed people. These figures describe May 2026; they are not a reading of the current labor market.
Average monthly labor income in the survey was $471 nationally, $516 in urban areas and $365 in rural areas. The gap between unemployment and job quality is why a single headline rate does not describe the whole labor market.
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