🇨🇴 Americas ·OECD member

Colombia

Colombia scores 1.98/6.0 on the OECD employment-protection strictness index.

B-READY 2025 OECD EPL
1.98 OECD EPL strictness (0–6) Below the OECD average
OECD EPL →

Colombia scores 1.98/6.0 on the OECD employment-protection index - below the OECD average of about 2.0.

#33/101 · OECD 1.98/6 · B-READY 69.6. World Bank B-READY 2025 · OECD EPL.

Employment Protection Composite

C- 50/100

One composite verdict from 2 of 3 independent sources, each percentile-benchmarked against every rated country. A missing source never lowers the score -- its weight redistributes to the sources this country actually has.

ILO EPLex N/A
N/A
Statutory dismissal-protection composite
World Bank B-READY B
69.6
Labor-market regulatory quality (0-100 scale)
OECD EPL F
1.98
Employment protection legislation strictness (0-6 scale)

Benchmarked against p10-p90 of every country rated by that source. See our methodology for the exact benchmark table and weights.

0

What the Data Shows for Colombia

Americas. Covered by 2/3 tracked datasets. As an OECD member, it is included in the OECD's long-running historical EPL series. B-READY 2025 labor score: 69.6/100, moderate. The OECD EPL overall strictness index is 1.98/6.0, where higher values indicate stricter rules on individual and collective dismissal.

Dismissal process: slow, ~7.9 weeks. No 3rd-party approval required for individual dismissal.

Labor disputes here resolve relatively quickly, averaging 0.8 months through formal channels. A moderate share of firms, 4.6% in the World Bank's survey, report experiencing a labor dispute. Employer social contributions run to a moderate 8.0% of salary on top of wages. Historically, Colombia's OECD EPL score moved from 1.98 in 2014 to 1.98 in 2019, showing the direction of reform over time. 6 peer comparisons below.

ILO EPLex
-
No data available
B-READY 2025
69.6
out of 100 · Rank #33
OECD EPL
1.98
out of 6.0 · Rank #48
B-READY 2025

Labor Regulation Quality

Regulation Quality
71.3
out of 100
Public Services
86.1
out of 100
Efficiency
51.4
out of 100
Notice Required
No
Severance Required
Yes
Weeks to Dismiss
7.9
Weeks Severance
6.3
Firms in Disputes
4.6%
Months to Resolve
0.8
Social Contributions
8.0%
3rd Party for Dismissal
Not required

Source: World Bank Business Ready 2025 Pillar scores are 0-100 (higher = better regulation quality)

OECD EPL

Historical Protection Score

Year Overall Score Visual
2014 1.98
2015 1.98
2016 1.98
2017 1.98
2018 1.98
2019 1.98

Scale: 0-6 (higher = more protective). Source: OECD Employment Protection Legislation database.

Compare Colombia With...

🇸🇸 South Sudan 🇹🇴 Tonga 🇲🇬 Madagascar 🇨🇫 Central African Republic 🇲🇦 Morocco 🇨🇩 Congo, Dem. Rep.

Countries with similar labor-regulation profiles

Two peer sets for Colombia on metrics that vary across the full country corpus, not regional containment. The nearest EPLex block below stays on the ILO composite; these neighborhoods use B-READY, OECD, or statutory-duration axes.

Read with this Colombia page

Understanding EPL Scores How Colombia's 2/3 source mix maps onto EPLex, OECD, and B-READY. Hiring Internationally Cross-border hiring context next to Colombia's B-READY labor score. Reading Employment Statistics How to read OECD EPL strictness next to Colombia's historical series.

Read with this Colombia roster

Antigua and Barbuda (Americas) →Argentina (Americas) →OECD overall ranking →Americas region →
Data sourced from official OECD, ILO, and World Bank employment-protection datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainEmploy

Disclaimer: This information is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Data is sourced from OECD, ILO, and World Bank labor market databases. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions based on this data.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Primary sources: ILO EPLex, World Bank B-READY, OECD EPL.

PlainEmploy is rendered directly from the OECD Employment Protection Legislation indicators, the ILO EPLex database, and the World Bank B-READY labor pillar, no number is typed in by an editor. This country's composite scores and comparisons are computed directly from the underlying OECD/EPLex/B-READY tables, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-08-30.