MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Magallanes region in extreme south Chile has the lowest unemployment rate

In Punta Arenas the economy has created new jobs in agriculture, livestock, fisheries and education

The extreme south region of Chile, Magallanes continues with record low unemployment, less than half the national average, according to the official stats for the mobile June/August quarter. While the Chilean national average unemployment is 6.7% in Magallanes it stands at 3.3%, and 0.8 percentage points less than a year ago.

 “We have managed to keep a low rate of structural unemployment since president Michelle Bachelet took office. At national level unemployment rates are going up, but in the region we have the lowest rate”, said Carlos Abarzua, head of the regional Labor and Social Security Office in Punta Arenas.

Education, agriculture, livestock, hunting, logging and fisheries helped to lower unemployment by creating more jobs in the June/August quarter, according to the latest report.

Abarzua underlined the significance of job creation for women which has helped decrease that unemployment rate by 1.5 percentage points. More specifically the Magallanes workforce receiving formal salaries reached 59.660 which is 8.7% higher than the same quarter a year ago but 0.5 percentage points less than the previous quarter.

The number of self-employed was down 14.5% over a year ago and 2.2% below the previous quarter.

At national level unemployment in Chile for June/August was 6.7%, up from 6.5% the previous quarter and one percentage point higher than a year ago. According to the official stats the number of people with jobs was up 0.7%, while the labor force increased 1.7%.

Chile's labor force reached 8.362.690 of which 7.802.500 have jobs and 560.180 are looking for employment. Men's unemployment stood at 6.2% and 7% for women.

In Metropolitan Santiago which concentrates 40% of Chile's workforce, unemployment reached 7.2%, up 0.4 percentage points over the previous quarter and 1.9 percentage points over the same period a year ago.