MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Most Chileans earn less that 500 USD monthly, says Labour ministry poll

The poll also confirms the volatility of the Chilean labour market

Over half of Chile’s contracted labour force (54%) earns a maximum monthly salary of 490 US dollars net (630 USD gross), according to the Labour Ministry’s recent ENCLA survey. This amounts to about twice the minimum 315 USD monthly minimum wage.

In 2006 only 45% of Chile’s workers earned twice the nation’s minimum wage, which at that time was 267 USD gross.

The survey, which is carried out every two years, also showed that women gain less than their male counterparts: 62% of working women earn a net monthly salary less than 490 USD.

The ENCLA survey also showed that although 71% of Chileans have work contracts, more than one half of all employees have not been with the same company for more than three years and one of every three contracts is terminated within the first year.

Besides regular “indefinite” contracts, almost 14% of Chileans are hired as manual workers, 10% are hired on fixed-term contracts and 2% as independent contractors.

Results show that 10% of Chilean women and 4% of Chilean men have part-time jobs, which amount to 30 hours weekly.

The survey also found that only 5% of Chile’s businesses have labour unions to deal with compared to 8% in 2006. This confirms, of course, that most union activity is confined to larger businesses rather than medium to small sized ones.

Gender differences are also present in labour unions, said the survey, with women making up 32% of union membership, men 68%.

As compared to the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis, when 31% of Chilean private sector employees were fired, the 2008 crisis left 20% of private sector workers unemployed.

The decrease in unemployment between the two crises can be attributed to a shift in private sector policy. Instead of firing workers, private businesses have modified working conditions and regulations.

By Gida Homad-Hamam - Santiago Times