MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Magallanes has Chile's lowest unemployment rate

Magallanes in the extreme south of Chile continues as the region with the lowest unemployment in the country according to the latest release referred to the December/07-February/08 quarter.

While overall average unemployment in Chile rose to 7.3% in Magallanes it remained at 2.2%. Porvenir a small town in Magallanes has the Chilean record with just 1.7% unemployment. In Punta Arenas the index was 2.4% which represents 1.170 people looking for work. The Magallanes workforce in the Dec/Feb quarter reached 65.620 people which means 190 less than the same period a year ago and 410 less than the previous mobile quarter. This means that those with jobs totaled 64.120 people and the unemployed 1.460. Those out of the labor force number 59.950. The 2.2% Magallanes unemployment rate is 0.6 percentage points less than the same period a year ago and 0.4 percentage points more than the previous quarter. The 2.2% is made up of 1.7% of hard core unemployed and 0.5% of those looking for first time jobs. This means that 1.170 people are theoretically Overall Magallanes has had a good employment performance in the last decade: 1998: 3,9%; 1999: 7,1%; 2000, 2001 y 2002: 5,5%; 2003: 6,6%; 2004: 6,1%; 2005: 6,4%; 2006: 4,2% and 2007: 2,8%.