Unemployment climbs to 8% for March-May trimester

SANTIAGO.- Unemployment reportedly reached 8% during the March-May trimester according to figures released today by the National Statistics Institute (INE).  The report indicates that the rise can be attributed to a rate of growth in the labor force that is higher than that of employment.

The unemployment rate registered a 1.3 percentage point hike over the last twelve months, swelling 0.4 percent compared to the previous trimester.

Market estimates had predicted unemployment to reach up to 7.8%.

During the same March-May trimester of 2007, unemployment reached 6.7%, while the rate rose to 7.6% during the February-March trimester immediately prior to this one.

The INE explained that the 1.3 percent rise in unemployment over the last twelve months can be attributed to the higher rate of expansion in the labor force (3.8%) compared to employment (2.4%), which over the last twelve months has been equivalent to 262,580 and 157,740 people respectively.