translated from Spanish: Migration hit jobs: 90% of Chileans have a foreign partner

In recent times, there has been talk of cultural input migrants arriving in Chile. In fact, there are already projections on the contribution of migrants to the development of the national economy.
In this sense, SOS Group conducted a survey to understand the perception of Chilean workers, about the arrival of foreigners in their workplaces.
The results confirm a significant share of migrants in the domestic labour market, revealing that 90% of respondents said they have a foreign co-worker.
“Between 2014 and 2018 the foreign population grew from 490 thousand people to more than one million 250 thousand figures that, although it reveals a large increase in this population, does not show the real impact on the labour market, since 9 out of 10 Chileans declare working together with a foreigner”, explains Alvaro Vargas, General Manager of SOS Group.
In assessing worker coexistence, 89.3% of respondents stated that they had a good working relationship with their foreign peers. “This shows that from the point of view of coexistence the arrival of foreign workers has been a contribution in the working climate of companies!, says Vargas.
One of the consultations the study was: “In your company do they hire more foreign workers than Chileans?” The results showed that 46.1% said yes, while 53.9% said this did not happen. “This outcome is a wake-up call for national workers, as we must ask ourselves why businesses – according to the perception of workers – are preferring migrants to fill the available jobs,” he says Executive.
Finally, one aspect that did not achieve a good assessment was in the area of company productivity, where 61.1% of respondents stated that the arrival of foreigners has not meant an improvement in the productivity of the company. Result that is at the opposite of recent comments on the contribution of migrants to the development of the national economy. “People’s feelings probably reflect that ‘what’s good for the economy isn’t necessarily good for me.’ We believe that this perception is based on the fears that may exist in the workforce about increased competition in the market and that it would affect the opportunities and wage levels of national workers,” says Vargas.
This survey was self-applied and was conducted between 11 and 18 June considering a sample of 642 people, who are working in the following areas of the economy.

Original source in Spanish