Minister Rincón confirms unemployment rate has not increased, contrary to doomsayers’ forecasts.

“Unemployment, contrary to the doomsayers’ forecasts, has not increased. This does not mean we can be complacent. We must remain alert and intensify actions to prevent any rise in unemployment. For this reason, President Bachelet has asked Minister Valdés and his economic team to push forwards with a series of measures and projects to ensure these actions take shape,” Minister Rincón explained.

The Employment Minister added that “Chile is coping well in the current economic situation given the global scenario in which we find ourselves. Our economy is strong and healthy and has performed in line with expectations. The labor market has not been affected in the way many had predicted.”
In the last 12 months 129,000 salaried jobs have been created, equaling last quarter’s figures. The teaching, transport and telecommunications and retail sectors saw the largest increases in the number of salaried employees. “Employment rates are rising in labor intensive sectors, that is to say, sectors that employ large numbers of people,” Minister Rincón said.

She also highlighted the 0.2% decline in female unemployment, “which is very significant as we have been focusing our efforts on increasing the number of women in the labor market.”

In terms of regional unemployment rates, yesterday’s figures published by the National Statistics Institute show that unemployment has increased in five regions, decreased in seven regions, and registered no change in the remaining two regions. The largest increases were in O’Higgins (from 5.7% to 6.6%), Los Ríos (from 4.4% to 4.8%) and Tarapacá (from 6% to 6.4%).

With regard to comparative data, Chile’s employment rate has grown by 2.3% over the last 12 months, higher than the 1.8% increase reported for the last quarter; while the number of salaried employees has increased by 2.4%, equaling the previous month’s figures.