The evolution of employment in Chile 1990-2010: A recalculation

The article shows that, by eliminating statistical distortions, Chile created 320.000 new jobs in 2010, i.e, 160.000 less than was reported by the National Statistics Institute, an organization which has been insufficiently clear regarding the referential nature of its 2009 figures used to calculate growth in 2010. The lack of official and credible figures is unprecedented and affects calculations of the evolution labor productivity (reducing growth), which in turn affects wide-ranging wage bargaining, such as those concerning the minimum wage and the adjustments of public sector salaries. It is also argued that the increase in employment suffers from problems of “quality”, arising from the preponderance of self-employment and low productivity.