Chile: Covid-19 drives unemployment to 10-year high

Queuing in front of the unemployment insurance fund in Santiago, Chile, May 28, 2020. Martin BERNETTI / AFP

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The unemployment rate reached 9% on average between February, according to the Chilean Institute of Statistics. In the capital, Santiago, there are several hours of waiting outside the unemployment insurance offices.

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With our correspondent in Santiago de Chile,Justine Fontaine

More than 200 meters in line and not far from two hours of waiting. The unemployment insurance offices have not been empty since the end of March in Santiago. The coronavirus epidemic started in the country in March, and authorities expect an even larger increase in the number of job seekers in the coming weeks.

Cesia Pardo, 30, lost her job in telecommunications due to the health crisis. Her husband, who worked in the construction industry, was also laid off recently. “  The tail goes to the other side of the block. I have to say that this is not the first time I have come in recent years, and yet I have never seen such a long queue, ever,  ”she says.

"  We don't know how long it will last  "

On the ground, black and yellow adhesive strips indicate the minimum distances to be respected. Monica Alvarez, a 39-year-old Venezuelan, was a saleswoman in a shopping center, which had been closed since the end of March. "  It's very complicated, especially for us who almost all have to pay rent, expenses ... Because we don't know how long it will last, or rather we see that it may last a long time  ", worries she.

She arrived in Chile a year and a half ago to flee the economic crisis in Venezuela, and today she says it is almost impossible to find a job here.

At the end of March, the unemployment rate in the capital region exceeded 15%, unheard of since 1985, during the dictatorship of General Pinochet.

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  • Chile
  • Coronavirus
  • Employment and Work
  • Economic crisis

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