De la Espriella to Regulate Hourly Work in Colombia

The government of President-elect Abelardo de la Espriella is preparing one of the labor changes that promises to spark an intense debate in Colombia from the very beginning of his administration. Among the first decrees to be issued after he takes office on August 7 is the regulation of hourly work, a model that, according to the transition team, seeks to facilitate the formalization of millions of people who currently work informally and lack full access to social security.

The initiative will be based on provisions included in the labor reform approved by Congress in 2025, which left open the possibility of regulating proportional social security contributions for those who work part-time schedules.

The proposal comes at a time when Colombia’s labor market continues to face one of its main challenges: high informality. According to the most recent figures, nearly 55% of the country’s workers are employed outside the formal system, without stable employment contracts or comprehensive social security coverage.

For the new government, that reality requires more flexible mechanisms to bring millions of workers into the system. For labor unions and several experts, however, the risk is that such flexibility could ultimately affect the quality of existing formal employment.

De la Espriella to regulate hourly work in Colombia

The president-elect’s transition team has confirmed that the regulation will be part of the package of decrees that will begin to be issued in August, once the new administration officially takes office. The measure will establish the conditions for hiring workers by the hour and allow both employees and employers to make proportional social security contributions when work schedules are part-time.

According to those involved in drafting the regulation, the goal is not to replace traditional full-time contracts but to create a legal alternative for activities that are currently carried out entirely in the informal economy, especially in small businesses, family-run shops, domestic services, and microenterprises that lack the capacity to hire workers on a full-time basis.

For the De la Espriella administration, the main benefit of hourly work will be expanding coverage within Colombia’s labor system. The new government’s argument is that millions of people already work only a few hours a day or a few days a week, but currently do so without contracts, without pension contributions, without proper workplace risk coverage, and, in many cases, without access to employment benefits.

The regulation would allow those workers to be formally employed through contracts adjusted to the actual time worked, while employers would make proportional social security contributions based on the hours effectively worked.

Members of the transition team argue that the labor reform approved under the outgoing administration already established the legal foundations necessary to develop this framework through regulatory decrees, meaning they do not believe a new law will need to be presented to Congress in order to implement it.

The debate over job quality

The proposal, however, has already drawn strong criticism even before being regulated. Labor unions and several labor analysts warn that hourly work could become an incentive for some companies to replace full-time jobs with multiple part-time contracts, reducing labor costs and weakening worker stability.

Critics argue that while the measure could formalize part of the informal economy, it could also open the door to greater fragmentation of the labor market and more precarious employment relationships if strict controls are not put in place.

The concern is that employers who currently offer full-time contracts may choose to split those positions into several part-time jobs, reducing workers’ monthly income, job stability, and opportunities for professional development.

That scenario has already been raised during the public debate surrounding the announcement of the future decree and is expected to become one of the main points of confrontation between the government, labor unions, and the business sector in the coming months.

The discussion coincides with a significant transformation of Colombia’s labor market. This month, the final reduction of the standard workweek from 44 to 42 hours will take effect, while additional pay rates for work performed on Sundays and public holidays have also increased, changes stemming from the labor reform approved by Congress last year.

In that context, the De la Espriella government argues that hourly work is not intended to dismantle recently acquired labor rights but rather to complement the system with a model that responds to the reality of millions of independent workers, occasional workers, and those employed by small businesses.

Supporters of the initiative believe that keeping more than half of the labor force in informality represents a greater problem than the risk of labor flexibility, while opponents insist that any regulation must include sufficient safeguards to prevent part-time work from replacing full-time formal employment.

A debate just beginning

The regulation of hourly work is shaping up to be one of the first major economic and labor initiatives of the new government and, at the same time, one of the issues most likely to generate controversy during the first months of Abelardo de la Espriella’s administration.

While the executive branch defends the initiative as a tool to bring millions of workers into the formal system and expand social security coverage, labor unions and specialists warn that the real challenge will be preventing the new model from undermining the job stability of workers who currently hold traditional contracts.

The Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) has already issued a strong response to the proposal, rejecting “the flexibilization or widespread adoption of hourly contracts.” Historically, the CUT’s official position in labor union forums and labor reform documents has been that this type of contract makes employment more precarious, undermines fundamental rights, eliminates job security, and affects the accumulation of weeks toward a pension.

The final content of the decree will become known after the presidential inauguration in August, when the new government begins regulating a measure that promises to transform part of Colombia’s labor market and revive a debate that for years has divided business leaders, workers, and labor law experts.