The OECD accession review of labour market, social and migration policies in Colombia (OECD, 2016[4]) noted a high frequency of labour law violations in the country and areas for improvement in the labour inspection system. Despite considerable advances in the functioning of labour inspection in the 2010s, further improvements were considered necessary. Box 2.1 provides an overview of the recommendations made by the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee of the OECD in its Formal Opinion on Colombia’s accession to the OECD (OECD, 2018[3]).
OECD Reviews of Labour Market and Social Policies: Colombia 2024
OECD Reviews of Labour Market and Social Policies
2. Labour law enforcement
Recommendations in the Formal Opinion of ELSAC
Box 2.1. OECD recommendations to strengthen labour inspection in Colombia
Ensuring the adequacy of resources and enabling policy initiatives for the labour inspectorate to:
Allow labour inspectors to properly execute their tasks;
Continue offering regular training programmes for all labour inspectors (irrespective of their contract type);
Ensure investigations in rural areas.
Finalising the permanent hiring process for labour inspectors who passed the career exam and maintaining the number of labour inspectors in line with international standards.
Using the new electronic case management system nationwide and connecting it to the electronic fine collection system.
Strengthening the deterrence effect of labour inspection by:
Increasing the number of inspections and investigations per year, and making this information available to the public on a yearly basis;
Completing labour inspections within the established timeframes;
Improving the collection of fines;
Developing and implementing a national inspection strategy.
Source: OECD (2018[3]), Accession of Colombia to the OECD: Formal Opinion of the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee, unpublished report.
Budget for labour inspection
The budget for labour inspection, surveillance and control in Colombia has been rising steadily since its low point in 2020, exceeding the budget prior to the global pandemic. Proceeds from collected fines, which have been used to strengthen labour inspection since 2020,1 further increased the resources of the Ministry of Labour. In 2023, the total budget for labour inspection reached EUR 2.7 million, compared to EUR 1.6 million in 2019 (Figure 2.1).2 Fine proceeds accounted for a bit more than one‑quarter of the total budget in 2023.
Figure 2.1. The budget for labour inspection has been rising steadily since its low point in 2020
Budget allocated to labour inspection, surveillance, and control, 2014‑24
Source: OECD calculations based on data provided by the Ministry of Labour.
Functioning of labour inspectorate
The number of labour inspectors also rose notably over the past two years, from 882 active labour inspectors at the end of 2021 to 1 159 inspectors at the beginning of 2024. The increase was the result of a new hiring process issued by the Ministry of Labour at the beginning of 2022, with the aim to increase the number of inspectors to the ILO benchmark for developing countries – i.e. 15 000 workers per labour inspectors (ILO, 2006[20]). At the beginning of 2024, 108 vacancies for labour inspectors remained to be filled.
About half of all active labour inspectors held a civil servant status at the end of 2023, following a career exam organised by the National Civil Service Commission in 2018. The hiring of labour inspectors as civil servants was a remarkable improvement at the end‑2010s, aimed at providing career stability for inspectors. A new civil service exam will be organised later this year to ensure continuity. Contrary to the general career exam in 2018, the new exam will be organised specifically for the Ministry of Labour, allowing for better targeting to the needs of the ministry and the Labour Inspectorate.
Nevertheless, turnover continues to be high among labour inspectors, due to the low remuneration compared to the private sector and difficult working conditions. As a result, institutional knowledge that had been accumulated over the past decade through intensive training provided by the ILO and financed by both the US Government and Canadian Government, has been gradually lost again (USDOL, 2021[21]).
The Ministry of Labour therefore requested a study on the composition of the staff of the ministry and the Labour Inspectorate, aiming to gain a better understanding of the skill needs, remuneration, and regional distribution. Following the outcomes of this study, the ministry is currently considering the creation of different salary scales for labour inspectors to bring remuneration in line with similar posts in other Ministries and the private sector and to allow for career progression.
The ministry continues to invest both in virtual and in-person training programmes for labour inspectors. In 2023, a 1 150 inspectors participated in trainings (inspectors could participate in several trainings), slightly less than in 2021 (1 376 participants) and in 2022 (1 911 participants) (Ministry of Labour, 2024[22]). Upon request of labour inspectors and with support from the ILO, 10 in-person training days were organised in different regions across the country. The Labour Inspectorate also continues to offer courses through the Virtual Campus (currently there are 26 courses available in the platform), which was launched and implemented in 2019 with the support of the ILO.
Finally, the mobile labour inspection system established under the Canada-Colombia Action Plan (Employment and Social Development Canada, 2018[16]) to reach rural areas continues to operate under two models. First, the “Integral Operation Cycle” (Ciclo de Operación Integral) aims to raise public awareness about labour law rights through 1) sensibilisation and training campaigns targeted at students, workers and employers in rural areas, and 2) a mobile inspection office offering labour counselling and inspection services during two days in each location. Under this model, 53 municipalities and 2 785 people have been reached between 2021 and 2023, an average of 18 municipalities per year. Second, the “Inspection Brigade” (Brigada de Inspección) focuses on providing information about the procedures to access labour inspections and set up meetings between firms, communities, and government representatives to discuss labour issues. Under this model, the mobile labour inspection visited 129 municipalities between 2020 and 2023, reaching 6 436 people.
Inspections and fine collection
So far, the improvements in the Labour Inspectorate’s staff and budget have resulted in an increase in company visits, but not in additional investigations or sanctions. Labour inspectors provide preventive assistance to companies but also undertake reactive inspection visits in line with pre‑determined yearly goals defined by the Ministry of Labour. The past three years, there has been a considerable increase in the number of reactive inspections (Figure 2.2), which accounted for 67% of all company visits in 2023. Preventive assistance has seen a less stable trend, with considerable fluctuations between 2018 and 2023 (Figure 2.2).
Figure 2.2. There has been an increase in inspection visits in recent years
Number of preventive assistance and reactive inspection visits, 2018‑23
Source: Data provided by the Ministry of Labour.
Contrary to the increase in company visits, investigations, and sanctioning procedures both declined radically over the past seven years. In 2017, labour inspectors still conducted around 19 000 preliminary inquiries per year, dropping initially to 14 000 in 2019 and then further to 7 200 by 2023. There was a similarly large reduction in the number of sanctioning procedures, from 3 177 in 2017 to 433 in 2023 (Figure 2.3, Panel A).
The same observation holds for the number of fines imposed by labour inspectors, which declined from around 3 400 per year between 2017‑19 to 1 100 fines by 2023 (Ministry of Labour, 2024[22]). The value of imposed fines also decreased from considerably, as did the amount of collected fines as a result (Figure 2.3, Panel B).
Finally, the time labour inspectors need to conclude investigations continues to exceed the legally mandated duration of 219 days (9.7 months), lasting on average 15.8 months in 2023. There are large regional differences, with investigations lasting on average 8.8 months in Bogota (one of only two territories were investigations stay within the legally mandated timeframe), compared to 30 months in the Amazone territory (Ministry of Labour, 2024[22]). In March 2021, 43% of the open cases registered in the electronic inspection case management system of the labour inspectorate SISINFO exceeded the legal timeframes (USDOL, 2021[21]).
Figure 2.3. Inspections and fines collection have dropped considerably over the past seven years
Number of inspections and value of fines imposed and collected, 2017‑23
Notes: Panel A: Preliminary inquiries (averiguaciones preliminares iniciadas) are discretionary actions taken by public servants from the Ministry of Labour to assess the likelihood of the occurrence of an infringement or misconduct, identify alleged perpetrators and gather evidence to allow a clear, precise, and detailed summons. Sanctioning procedures are administrative procedures (investigaciones administrativas iniciadas) that establish whether the employer effectively incurred in violation of labour law. Panel B: The data on collected fines provided for 2022 and 2023 do not provide the value of fines collected by the National Training Service (SENA, Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje), the institution attached to the Ministry of Labour that is responsible for collecting the fines that were imposed prior to 2020. However, their share in fines collection declined rapidly after 2010.
Source: Data provided by the Ministry of Labour.
Conclusion
The primary improvements in labour law enforcement over the last two years have been in the overall budget allocated to labour inspection as well as an increase in the number of labour inspectors and company visits. The government also continued training labour inspectors and improving mobile labour inspection in rural areas. However, turnover among labour inspectors remains a major challenge, leading to a continuous loss of knowledge, which complicates the functioning of labour inspection. The increases in staff and budget did not translate in additional investigations or sanctions, on the contrary. The number of investigations and sanctioning procedures plummeted over the past seven years, and nearly half of all investigations last longer than the legally mandated timeframe. As both the number and value of imposed fines dropped, so did the amount of collected fines in the years thereafter. To ensure the enforcement of labour regulations and workers’ rights, it is crucial to reduce turnover among labour inspectors, ensure investigations are concluded within the legally mandated duration, and continue training inspectors.
Notes
← 1. Prior to 2020, revenues from fines collection remained at the disposal of the National Training Service (SENA, Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje), the institution attached to the Ministry of Labour that was responsible for collecting the fines at that time.
← 2. Exchange rates of 31 January 2024 have been used to convert Colombian pesos into euros.