Consumer perception of higher unemployment rises

SANTIAGO.- The Consumer Perception Index (IpeCo) generated monthly by the Research Center for Business and Corporations (CIEN) of the Universidad de Desarrollo, along with Mall Plaza, has indicated an increase of 1.4 points between February and March of this year, despite the fact that current unemployment perception has grown.

According to the study, 81.4% of consumers believe that unemployment is higher now than it was 12 months ago, compared to the 68.2% figure reported for the same question in the previous study.

Nevertheless, the Expectations Index indicated that all variables of the study exhibited slight increases, although the variable that reported the most significant increase in monthly terms was the perception regarding future income.

34.5% of consumers believe that their future income will be higher, compared to 32.9% during the previous month. On the pessimistic side, 14.7% said they believed their future income would be lower, compared to 15.5% during the previous month of February.