Columbia
at the margin.

## Labor Market Conditions — Columbia

Columbia's labor market is in equilibrium, holding steady with no meaningful shift in either direction. Employment is essentially flat over the past year, down just 0.51% — a figure well within the range of normal variation rather than a sign of structural decline. Momentum is holding steady, with no acceleration or deterioration evident in recent months.

The unemployment picture offers a mild positive note. The local unemployment rate has moved lower over the past year — roughly 10% below where it stood twelve months ago — suggesting that even in a period of flat hiring, workers are finding and keeping jobs. That combination of stable employment and a declining unemployment rate points to a market that is neither adding capacity nor shedding it, but quietly absorbing its available workforce (Fig. 1).