President Bachelet signs national employment stimulus agreement

SANTIAGO.- Accompanied by representatives from the political, business and labor union sectors, President Michelle Bachelet signed the National Employment, Training and Labor Protection Pact today.

According to the Head of State, the document is based on the ideas of protecting jobs, offering more security to families, training workers, and increasing the nation's productive competitiveness.

The transversal agreement is made up of six documents and will have a validity of 12 months. The initiatives to be taken include benefits for worker training in an effort to curb further company layoffs.

The agreement also includes activities to train housewives and make it easier for their skills and knowledge to be validated.

At the ceremony, Bachelet claimed that the measures will decrease the unemployment rate by close to 1.5 percentage points. Furthermore, according to the president, the employment and training projects to be instated under the agreement will benefit approximately 125,000 people.