Employmentweb_low

EmploymEnT, woRk, and hEalTh inEqualiTiEs - a global perspective
Chile - magdalena Echeverría and Víctor maturana Waidele
Chile is also a country in the cluster of semi-periphery and emerging
labour institutions. Chile's population of over 16 million people is
concentrated in three large urban areas, where 85 per cent of the Chilean
population live. The rural population accounts for 13 per cent of the total
population, and the indigenous population is 5 per cent of the total. The
population living below the poverty line is 19 per cent. Chile stands out in
the latin american region as a country that is highly participating in the
global economy, and has experienced rapid economic growth in the last
two decades. according to the typology of countries, Chile is a more
egalitarian society compared with countries such as Turkey or El salvador.
However, since the mid-1980s, Chile has followed a free-market economic
model, with scant state regulation and a focus on exploitation of natural
resources: copper mining, fisheries, fruit production, and forestry.
poverty has fallen since 1990 by 20 per cent (ministerio de planificación,
1990; 1993). However, there has been no improvement in the major
inequalities in income distribution. families in the top quintile account for
almost 50 per cent of monthly family income, while those in the bottom
quintile account for 6 per cent. The labour market participation rate has
increased over the past twenty-five years, an increase which is almost
exclusively due to women joining the labour force. In 2006, male participation
attained 71.5 per cent while female participation was only 38 per cent, with no
improvement in the type of work available for women (Instituto nacional de
Estadísticas, 2006). The wage gap with men is 30 per cent. almost three
quarters of employees are salaried workers, while self-employed workers
represent 27 per cent. since 2000, unemployment has been in single digit
figures (6.6% at the end of 2006) with a 1.6% difference between men (6.1%)
and women (7.7%). The level of child labour in Chile is the lowest in the latin
american region. migrant labour is also low (1.2% of employment) although
the proportion of migrant workers from bordering countries has increased.
since the restoration of democracy in Chile, a variety of reforms have
been carried out, such as the major labour reform of the early 1990’s,
which was intended to rectify an unregulated labour market. However,
flexibility is widespread in the Chilean labour market. The two aspects of
flexibility that have been most developed are subcontracting of work
and/or personnel (35% of salaried work) (Echeverría, 2006) and the
lengthening of the working day beyond its customary limits (Echeverría
& Jeria, 2005). In 2003, the number of hours worked in Chile annually
was 25 per cent higher than in European countries, 15 per cent more
than in Japan and 14 per cent higher than in the united states.
Trade union membership has declined (10% of salaried workers) and
the unions are not very powerful, except among copper miners, public-
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