The number of people working in this situation reached 2,614,641. According to age groups, the increases mainly affected the groups 65 years and older (17.1%) and 45-54 years (6%).

In the January-March 2024 quarter, the informal employment rate in Chile stood at 28.1%, growing 0.7 percentage points in twelve months. The number of people working in this situation reached 2,614,641. According to age groups, the increases mainly affected the groups 65 years and older (17.1%) and 45-54 years (6%).

Informally employed people are those who work on a dependent basis, but without access to social security (health and AFP) due to their employment relationship.

They are also those who work independently in a company, business or activity that belongs to the informal sector; and unpaid family members of the household are also considered informally employed people.

So far in 2024 (January-March quarter), the informal employment rate in our country stood at 28.1%, growing 0.7 percentage points in twelve months, according to information released this Monday by the Institute National Statistics Office (INE).

Meanwhile, informally employed people reached 2,614,641 in the same period, which represented an increase of 5.8% in twelve months.

Increase in informally employed people

Women (7.8%) and men (4.1%) influenced the variation in the total number of informally employed people. According to age groups, the increases mainly affected the groups 65 years and older (17.1%) and 45-54 years (6%).

According to economic sector, the variation was mainly influenced by commerce (13.3%) and household activities as employers (22.5%).

In terms of occupational group, the increase was mainly driven by workers in services and commerce (10.9%) and elementary occupations (4.3%).

Meanwhile, the occupational categories that most influenced the increase in informally employed people were private salaried people (8%), self-employed people (2.9%), domestic service personnel (19.1%), employers (46.2%) and unpaid family members of the household (5.3%).

Self-employed people and private salaried workers represented 85.2% of the total informally employed population, registering informal employment rates of 70.2% and 16.2%, respectively.

Informal self-employed people expanded 2.9% in one year, affected by both men (3.7%) and women (2%)

Finally, by sector of activity, the expansion of informal private salaried people (8%) was led by agriculture and fishing (14.5%) and commerce (7%).