MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile has endemic two digits youth unemployment rate

Youth unemployment in Chile is far higher than that of adults, and has been for years. According to a study by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the youth unemployment rate in Chile in the last ten years has been, on average, three times higher than that of adults.

In 1997, the overall unemployment rate was 6.7 percent, and youth unemployment was 15.9%. In 2006, the overall figure was 7.9%, with youth unemployment at 19.1%. Christian Democrat (DC) Senator Mariano Ruiz-Esquide said that, "while the employment situation of the poorest households is grounds for concern, that of young people is even more so, especially when you consider young people have the highest crime rate. This is why we need to create new employment opportunities for them". On Monday, Senator Ruiz-Esquide met with Paula Quintana, Chile's Planning Minister, to discuss a package of special measures to boost youth employment. The package includes a subsidy for employment of young people, with two-thirds going to the young worker, and one-third to the employer. The beneficiaries of the subsidy would be workers 25 years old or younger. Minister Quintana also proposed a plan to form a strategic alliance between the government and NGOs that work with young people in order to implement job training programs. The package also calls for improvement of the national job search system by creating an electronic information system to track the labor market. The Santiago Times