MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Most of Chileans fear losing their job

A recent study by the Liberty and Development Institute revealed that 56 percent of Chileans fear losing their job within the next few months. Twenty percent describe this fear as “very high,” while 36 percent describe it as “high.”

Pessimism with respect to the current job situation also manifested itself in other ways: 59 percent of the people consulted in the study admitted to having gone into debt to maintain their households, 48 percent of household heads are unemployed, and 50 percent believe that they will find work this year.

The Liberty and Development Institute, a private right-of-center research organization, based its results on interviews with 1,000 people nationwide.

Tomás Flores, an economist at the same organization, attributes the malaise to the survey's timing during the second semester, which coincided with the release of lackluster news about less-than-expected economic growth, a fall in the price of copper, and a rise in the dollar.

In related news, the National Statistics Institute (INE) said Wednesday that Chile's unemployment rate rose and that industrial output increased between the months of March and May.

During these three months, unemployment increased from 8.3 percent to 8.7 percent. Still, according to Guillermo Pattillo, an economist with the Universidad de Santiago, the figures reflected that more people were entering the workforce, and not that economic conditions were worsening. "This is an excellent figure that shows an important dynamic in employment," said Pattillo.

In the 12 months to May, Chile added 209,650 jobs, while 256,650 people entered the workforce.

The INE also reported that industrial production rose 6.9 percent in May compared to the year-earlier month. This figure was considerably higher than the median 5.0 percent forecast in the Reuters poll.

May industrial output was driven by robust mining activity and the additional working day compared to May last year. The Santiago Times - News about Chile