Chile Unemployment Falls as Government Forecasts Recovery
Chilean unemployment unexpectedly fell in the three months through October, the first month of a quarter that Finance Minister Alberto Arenas forecasts will see a “small and moderate reactivation” in the economy.
The jobless rate slid to 6.4 percent from 6.6 percent in the month earlier period, the National Statistics Institute said on its website today, compared with the 6.7 percent median forecast of 17 economists polled by Bloomberg. Retail sales fell 0.2 percent in October from the year earlier, while manufacturing output gained 1 percent, the institute said in a separate report.
Policy makers have cut interest rates by more than any other country in the past 14 months as the economy grows at the slowest pace since the 2009 recession. While Arenas forecasts the beginning of a pick-up this quarter, central bank director Enrique Marshall told El Mercurio over the weekend that growth would remain weak into the first few months of next year.
“The report provides a certain pause in the expectations for a deterioration in the labor market and provides signs of resilience,” Felipe Ruiz, an economist at BCI in Santiago, said in an e-mailed note. “Higher unemployment may take longer than initially expected.”
The jobless rate is up from 5.8 percent in the year-earlier period, with the number of people self-employed rising 2.3 percent, while those earning wages gained 0.7 percent.
Comments
Post a Comment