Despite the slight increase in unemployment rates at the national level, employed people grew by 3.1%, with the commerce sector (8.3%) contributing to the increase along with accommodation and food service (5.1%), among others.
The National Institute of Statistics (INE) reported that the unemployment rate in the country reached 8.5% in the December 2023 – February 2024 quarter.
The figure had an increase of 0.1 percentage points (pp.) in twelve months, thanks to the fact that the increase in the labor force (3.2%) was greater than that presented by employed people (3.1 %).
On the other hand, unemployed people grew by 4.9%, influenced by those who were unemployed (4.5%) and those looking for work for the first time (8.5%).
Although at the national level there was a slight increase compared to the previous moving quarter, in the Metropolitan Region the unemployment rate in the same period reached 9.3%, with a drop of 0.4 pp. to twelve months.
The estimate of the total in the Metropolitan Region, where the Chilean capital is located, is that the employed population grew 2.2%, while by economic sectors the impact was on commerce (12.2%), education (4.7% ) and water supply (50.7%), as detailed by the INE.
At a general level, compared to the same period of the previous year, the participation and occupancy rates were 62.3% and 57.0% (+1.4 pp. and +1.2 pp. respectively). The population outside the labor force decreased by 2.7%.
Breakdown by men and women
In the case of women, the unemployment rate was 9.0%, changing to zero in twelve months, thanks to the increase in equal proportions of the labor force and employed women (4.2%). The level of unemployed expanded by 4.3%.
The participation and employment rates in this segment of the population stood at 52.8% and 48.0% (+1.7 pp. and +1.5% pp.), while women outside the force Jobs fell 2.5%.
Regarding men, the unemployment rate grew 0.2 pp. twelve months, reaching 8.1%. This is thanks to the 2.5% increase in the workforce, greater than the 2.3% recorded by employed men.
At the same time, the unemployed increased 5.5%.
The participation rate of men reached 72.3% and the employment rate reached 66.4%, with variations of 1.1 pp. and 0.8 pp., respectively. Men out of the labor force fell 3.0%.
Busy people and informality
As detailed by the INE, employed people grew by 3.1%, a figure affected by both women (4.2%) and men (2.3%).
The sectors that contributed to this increase were commerce (8.3%), health activities (4.9%) and teaching (4.3%) along with accommodation and food service (5.1%). By occupational category, there was an increase in formal employees (3.0%) and self-employed workers (3.0%).
The informal employment rate was 27.4% in one year (0.1 pp.), with an increase in informally employed people by 3.3%, influenced by both women (5.1%) and men (1 .9%). In terms of sectors, commerce stood out (8.8%) along with agriculture and fishing (9.6%).
Seasonality and work hours
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate (which eliminates the effects of exogenous seasonal factors of a non-economic nature that influence its current behavior) stood at 8.6%, decreasing 0.2 pp. compared to the previous moving quarter.
The average number of hours worked decreased by 1.0% to 36.6 hours, with the average being 39.1 hours for men and 32.6 hours for women. On the other hand, the volume of work, which is measured through the total number of effective hours worked, grew to 2.2%.
The combined unemployment and potential labor force rate reached 17.0% (0.5 pp.) in the period. In men it was 14.7% and in women, 19.9%. The gender gap was 5.2 pp.
