This article seeks to measure the effect of the Employment Public Service (SPE) on the probability of accessing formal employment in the metropolitan area of Barranquilla, Colombia. To achieve this objective, two sources of information are combined: the data on people who registered with the SPE in Barranquilla, and a survey of 400 people registered with the same service. With these data, an estimate of the average effect of the SPE is obtained through propensity score matching. The results show that participating in the services offered by the SPE increases the probability of getting formal employment by around 12 %. This study is of special importance for the design of public policies, as it identifies the effects of state intervention in employability in one of the most important cities in Colombia.