MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile's unemployment eases to 10,8% but still several points above 2019

Unemployment in Chile has been falling for four consecutive months after hitting a decade-long high of 13.1% in July, during the peak of the pandemic

Chile's unemployment rate eased to 10.8% between September and November, the government said in the last day of 2020, but remained well above the same period the previous year as the coronavirus pandemic continued to weigh on the economy of the world's top copper producer.

Unemployment in Chile has been falling for four consecutive months after hitting a decade-long high of 13.1% in July, during the peak of the pandemic. The jobless rate during the August-to-October period was 11.6%.

The unemployment rate nonetheless remains 3.8 percentage points higher through November compared with the same period of the previous year, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE).

Many Chileans lost their jobs in the past year after the economy suffered a one-two punch of mass protests in 2019, followed by the coronavirus outbreak that began in March.

Chile's central bank predicts gross domestic product will fall between 5.75% and 6.25% this year amid the pandemic.