Chile Unemployment Falls for Third Month in Boost to Recovery

(Bloomberg) -- Chile’s unemployment rate fell for the third straight month in a fresh sign that the economic recovery in one of Latin America’s richest nations is slowly gaining steam.

The jobless rate declined to 11.6% in the three months through October, the national statistics agency reported on Friday. That figure was below the 11.7% median forecast of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.

“We are seeing a recovery trend toward pre-pandemic periods,” though risks remain, said Sandra Quijada, director of the country’s statistics bureau INE.

Key Insights

• President Sebastian Pinera’s administration has made employment a priority amid emergency spending against the coronavirus. In September, the government announced a job subsidy program worth about $2 billion
• The labor market is also being helped by the gradual easing of lockdowns against the pandemic, which is allowing stores and factories to reopen
• Despite gains in recent months, unemployment is still at historically high levels in comparable data that goes back to 2010

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• The number of unemployed people rose 45.1% from the same period last year, to just over one million, according to the statistics agency
• The number of people in work fell by 14.8% during the same period
• Drop in occupied workers influenced mainly by retail, construction and tourism sectors

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