(Updated with statements from the Minister of Economy, third and fourth paragraph)
Santiago de Chile, Nov 30 (EFE) .- The unemployment rate in Chile fell to 8.1% in October, 3.5 percentage points less than in the same period of the previous year and the lowest figure since the arrival of the pandemic to the country, in March 2020, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported on Tuesday.
This is the sixth consecutive month of decline and is explained by ‘the rise in the labor force (6.1%), which was less than that presented by employed persons (10.3%) and the 26% decrease in unemployed, affected by the unemployed (-28.1%) ‘, explained the institution.
“We believe that this trend of job recovery will continue in the coming months, hand in hand with the strengthening of vaccination,” said the Minister of Economy, Lucas Palacios.
In the last quarter, 111,000 new jobs were created and in total more than 1.3 million jobs have been recovered, “70% of the total lost during the pandemic,” added the portfolio owner.
The expansion of employed persons was influenced by the sectors of commerce (14.2%), construction (31.8%) and accommodation and food service (52%), detailed the INE.
The informal employment rate, meanwhile, stood at 27.9%, growing 2.8 percentage points in 12 months, and informal employment increased 22.6%, affected by both men (20.1%) as for women (26.1%), according to the institute.
Seasonally adjusted, the unemployment rate was 8.2%, decreasing 0.1 percentage points with respect to the previous moving quarter as a consequence of the increase in the labor force (0.9%) that resulted from the decrease in the unemployed (- 0.4%) and the rise in employed persons (1.0%).
The pandemic, which leaves almost 1.76 million infected and more than 38,300 deaths, has been kept under control since August, with slight upswings that have failed to set off alarms, although with border restrictions for some countries due to the advance of the omicron variant .
For now, with more than 90% of the target population fully vaccinated, the country has few restrictions compared to the rest of the health crisis, without a curfew or quarantines and with all shops, bars, restaurants open.
The Central Bank increased its projection for growth of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021 in August, estimating that it will oscillate between 10.5% and 11.5%, while the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) pointed out to a rise of 9.2% for this year. EFE
pnm / ig
