MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile: unemployment drops to 6.7%; Punta Arenas 2.7%

Unemployment in Chile during the first quarter of 2007 was 6.7%, which is higher than the previous quarter, 6.4%, but considerably less than a year ago, 8.35%, according to the latest release from the Statistics Institute, INE. Punta Arenas in the extreme south of the country has one of the lowest rates with 2.7%.

The release also points out that in the last twelve months the workforce increased by 1.1% and overall employment increased 2.9%. This means that Chile's working force is now above 6.9 million. Unemployment in metropolitan Santiago during Jan-March 2007 was 7.5%, compared to 6.8% in Dec06/Feb07 and 8.7% in the first quarter of 2006. Magallanes Region figures as the region with the lowest overall unemployment, 2.6%, compared to 2.8% in Dec/Feb and 4.2% in Jan/March 2006. "During the quarter under review, woman employment advanced at an annual rate of 4.2%, based mainly in the creation of new jobs in that period, 5.9%, with 87% of new jobs going to women", points out the INE report. Since 2004 the number of salaried employees has been growing at an annualized 4.4%, while the percentage of self employed has been dropping since September-November 2005, with a 2.1% decrease. Manufacturing, Commerce and retail are the more dynamic sectors for employment while agriculture and mining keep falling. A report from the University of Chile's Economic Department shows that Santiago's unemployment in March was down to 8.8%. This means unemployment in March dropped 0.3% compared to December 2006 and 0.5% compared to March 2006. Wages in March in Santiago increased an average 10% between February 2007 and 2006 raising the average monthly income to approximately the equivalent of 700 US dollars. The wealthiest sector of greater Santiago area also saw an increase in wages which in February 2007 averaged 1.500 US dollars monthly.