Unemployment reaches 7.5% in the fourth trimester of 2008

SANTIAGO.– According to a report released by the National Institute of Statistics (INE) today, unemployment reached 7.5% in the October-December trimester.

The unemployment rate for the fourth trimester of 2008 registered an increase of 0.3 percentage points in 12 months and remained at the same level as the previous trimester, breaking with the customary trend of this season according to the INE.

Unemployment remained steady despite the fact that both the workforce and employment rates went up in equal measure (0.7%).

The growth in the work force (2.9%) and the employment rate (2.6%) decelerated over the past 12 months, demonstrating the slowest growth rates of the year. Salaried employment rates showed a similar trend, registering a meager increase of 3.8% in this trimester after growing consistently at almost 5% in 2008.

The average unemployment rate in 2008 was 7.8%, 0.7 percentage points higher than 2007.