LatinNews Regional Monitor: Brazil & Southern Cone - 02 March 2020

* Chile’s national statistics institute (INE) released new figures showing that the national unemployment rate for the November 2019-January 2020 rolling quarter stood at 7.4%, 0.3 percentage points higher than in the comparable quarter of 2018-2019. This is the highest unemployment rate in nine years and has been attributed to the ongoing and widespread social protests against inequality that erupted in October 2019, which have significantly impacted economic activity. According to the INE data, the increase in the unemployment rate was driven by a 9.6% increase in layoffs and an 8% fall in the amount of people looking for work. “We think that the increase in unemployment reflects what we have been saying in the past few months…that job creation has deteriorated as a result of the social discontent”, Labour & Social Security Minister María José Zaldívar commented, while adding that the rise in the unemployment rate is nevertheless “lower than expected”.

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