According to the INE, in the quarter December 2024 - February 2025, the unemployment rate was 0.1 percentage points lower compared to the same period last year and 0.4 points higher than the quarter prior to January.

Unemployment in Chile reached 8.4% in the December 2024-February 2025 quarter, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported Friday.

The figure is 0.1 percentage points lower than the same period last year and 0.4 points higher than the quarter prior to January, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said.

The decline was "a result of an increase in the labor force (0.8%), lower than that of employed persons (0.9%)," the agency explained.

The number of unemployed people decreased, affected only by those who were unemployed (-1.1%), he added.

The economic sectors that contributed most to the increase in the employed population were transportation (7.9%), financial and insurance activities (17.2%), and public administration (4.9%). By occupational category, the increase was observed exclusively among formal wage earners (3.2%).

The male unemployment rate stood at 7.7%, while the female unemployment rate reached 9.3%.

Informality

The informal employment rate stood at 26.1%, decreasing 1.3 percentage points in twelve months.

"Over the same period, the number of informal workers decreased by 4.0%, driven by both women (-6.4%) and men (-1.8%)," the INE stated.

By economic sector, the increase in the total number of informal workers was influenced by commerce (-7.5%) and manufacturing (-16.0%), while by occupational category, the increase was for self-employed workers (-2.7%) and private sector employees (-2.7%).