Unemployment in Chile does not ease and continues its upward trend, which has been consolidated with a sixteenth consecutive annual increase. The National Institute of Statistics (INE) has reported this Thursday that the national unemployment rate corresponding to the December 2023 - February 2024 quarter has reached 8.5%. The figure represented an increase of 0.1 percentage points in twelve months.
The report from the Chilean statistical agency has explained that the increase in unemployment is due to the fact that the increase in the labor force - which is defined as people of working age who have the capacity to be employed or unemployed - reached 3, 2%, a higher number than that presented by employed people, who scored 3.1%. This variation has been maintained in the latest reports, where pressure on the workforce over the occupation capacity of the labor market has also been observed.
Unemployed people increased to 4.9%, a figure that was influenced by the 4.5% of unemployed people and 8.5% of those seeking employment for the first time. Compared to the same period of the previous year, the participation and occupancy rates stood at 62.3% and 57.0%, growing 1.4 points and 1.2 points respectively. On the other hand, the population outside the labor force decreased 2.7%.
Among women, the unemployment rate stood at 9.0%, with no change in twelve months, as a result of the increase in equal proportions of the labor force and employed women (4.2%). Among men, unemployment was 8.1%, with an increase of 0.2 points. In twelve months, as a result of the 2.5% increase in the labor force, greater than the 2.3% registered by the employed, at the same time, the unemployed increased 5.5%.
The sectors that contributed to the increase in employment during the quarter analyzed were commerce (8.3%), health activities (4.9%), teaching (4.3%) and accommodation and food service (5.1%), while, by occupational category, the increase was observed in formal salaried people (3.0%) and self-employed workers (3.0%).
Informal employment – work that is not protected by Chilean labor legislation – has reached 27.4%, with an increase of 0.1 points in one year. The number of people employed in this form of employment increased by 3.3%, affected by both women (5.1%) and men (1.9%). The sectors most associated with informality were commerce (8.8%) and agriculture and fishing (9.6%).
In the Metropolitan Region, where the capital Santiago de Chile is located, the unemployment rate reached 9.3%, with a decrease of 0.4 points in twelve months. In the same period, the estimate of the total employed population grew 2.2%. Commerce (12.2%), education (4.7%) and water supply (50.7%) were the sectors that contributed the most to regional occupation.
The employment figures are known in the midst of an intense debate about job creation and informality. The Minister of Labor, Jeannette Jara, had stated at a union meeting that employers should pay better so that their employees could sustain the rise in the cost of living. Added to this discussion is the serious labor crisis affecting the Huachipato steel plant, located in the southern region of Biobío, which has paralyzed its functions due to the siege of competition from Chinese steel.
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