Amid the debate over the ravages of coronavirus in employment, nearly 100,000 companies, of all sizes, have applied to take over nearly 700,000 workers to the Employment Protection Act since the beginning of the rule implemented to deal with the effects of coronavirus.
According to the latest report of the Superintendency of Pensions, this is an increase of 36,842 workers added by their companies during the last week, an increase less than the 55 thousand recorded in the previous balance sheet of the Employment Protection Act.
The instrument, which allows companies to suspend contracts and employees receive part of their remuneration on account of their funds in cessation insurance, has been one of the Government’s tools to try to alleviate the acute cessation of the population in recent months.
However, the picture is worrying and according to an analysis by investment bank JP Morgan, unemployment in Chile would already be close to 20%. The official figures are not yet so desoling and according to the INE, in the last mobile quarter February-April there was an unemployment of 9%, while in the Metropolitan Region the figure reaches 15.6%, according to the calculations of the Microdata Center of the University of Chile.
Balance of the law
As of May 31, applications for 591,844 workers had been approved. Meanwhile, 99,038 applications have been rejected to date, while another 1,203 remains in the process.
Of the 96,220 companies that have applied for the law, 1,173 are large companies (of 200 or more workers). In fact, 18 applications were filed in the last week, radio Cooperativa says.
Meanwhile, 73,668 are micro (up to 9 employees), 17,512, small (between 10 and 49 workers), and 3,275 to medium (between 50 and 199 employees).
By number of workers, large enterprises concentrate the most law enforcement workers: 183,532; while micro-enterprises have been more massive in support of the standard, they concentrate 158,757 employees.
By items and regions
Of the total, 505,213 correspond to those who have an indefinite contract and 86,631 to a fixed-term contract or by work or work.
In terms of items, wholesale and retail and motor vehicle and motorcycle repair remains the main sector that has made use of the standard, with 139,047 workers (23.5%).
It is followed by construction (110,908, 18.7 per cent) and accommodation and food service activities (110,723, 18.7 per cent).
For private house workers, a total of 13,460 were asked to take advantage of the law by 29 May.
By region, the Metropolitan Region – the most impacted by Covid-19 – continues to concentrate the vast majority of law enforcement workers, with 404,946 (68.4% of the total); Valparaiso (32,662, 5.5 per cent), and La Araucanía and Biobío, both with 4.4 per cent, followed.
