MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Unemployment in Punta Arenas remains the lowest in Chile: 4.6%

The capital of Magallanes region is showing resilience to the global crisis

Magallanes in the extreme south of Chile remains as the region with the lowest unemployment in the country, 4.4% according to the latest release from the regional branch of the Statistics Office.

The percentage refers to the May-July quarter which anyhow was 1.9 percentage points higher than the same period a year ago but 0.5 percentage points less than the immediate previous quarter.

This compares favourably with the country’s overall 10.8% unemployment, 10.7% in metropolitan Santiago, 2.4 percentage points higher than a year ago, equivalent to 783.000 people out of a job. A majority of the jobless are men, 60%, and 30% between the ages of 18 and 24.

Santiago authorities have warned that in spite of some promising recovery “green shoots” the worst of unemployment is still to come and the next reading could see the national jobless number jump to 880.000.

The number of jobless in Magallanes region was 3.010 out of a working force of 69.220 (4.2% more than May/July 2008).

People with jobs totalled 66.210, which is 2.3% higher than a year ago.

José Gabriel Parada, head of the regional Statistics Office said that employment increased in manufacturing, financial services, transport and telecommunications.

On the opposite end, jobs were lost in retailing, mines and quarries, and social and community services.

Unemployment in the capital Punta Arenas was 4.6%, while in the other two cities from the region, Natales, 9.1% and Porvenir, 8.3%. Both cities suffered the impact of seasonal activities such as tourism, fishing and abattoirs.

Anyhow Punta Arenas officials are confident that the situation will improve in the coming months as tourism begins to pick up and other related activities tend to normalize.