Treasury Minister presides over meeting to coordinate job protection measures
The Treasury Minister, Felipe Larraín; the Employment Minister, Evelyn Matthei and the president of the Workers’ United Center (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, or CUT), Arturo Martínez met to analyze the impact of the eurozone crisis on employment.
“Our primary concern is to decide the best measures to protect employment against an adverse external situation,” the Treasury Minister, Felipe Larraín stated today. The Treasury Minster presided over a coordination meeting with the Employment Minister, Evelyn Matthei and the board of the Workers’ United Center (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores, or CUT), headed by their president Arturo Martínez. Representatives from each ministry also participated in the meeting.
After the meeting, the Minister confirmed that the eurozone crisis is already affecting Chile with lower copper prices, a slowing down of monthly activity figures and a reduction in the number of new jobs. “We know that Europe, a significant region of the global economy, which accounts for 25% of the world’s GDP, is facing a recession,“ the Treasury Minister stated.
The Minster confirmed that while the Chilean economy continues to create new jobs, the government’s aim is to implement permanent measures to mitigate the impact of economic downturns on employment. “We have discussed how we can create permanent systems of governance so that whenever there is an external crisis we have a system set up to respond to the situation.” For example, he suggested that during times of recession there could be training programs for workers.
Felipe Larraín said that the results of measures implemented by the government in 2009 to respond to the global financial crisis are being analyzed. “We have analyzed the measures that were taken in 2009 and we are gathering opinions from the employment market in relation to these measures, so that we can improve them and be better placed to respond to these situations in future.”
Throughout February, the representatives from the Treasury and Employment Ministries in association with the CUT will continue to analyze potential measures with a view to presenting a bill in March. The Employment Minister, Evelyn Matthei, explained that “these measures will kick in if the crisis deepens, and if it doesn’t, then we will have legislation in place should the need arise. The fact that we are presenting the bill in March does not mean that we anticipate a crisis in April, but that we are trying to create a permanent law that has already been discussed, studied and agreed upon.”