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Chile
Index
Two public employment programs affected the labor
market during
the period of economic reforms between 1975 and 1987. The
Minimum
Employment Program (Programa de Empleo Mínimo--PEM) was
created in
1975 at a time when unemployment had reached record
levels. The
program, administered by local governments, paid a small
salary to
unemployed workers, who, for a few hours a week, performed
menial
public works. At first, the government tightly restricted
entry
into the program. Gradually, most of these restrictions
were
lifted, and a larger number of unemployed people were
allowed to
participate. Thus, the proportion of the labor force
employed by
the program remained virtually constant between 1977 and
1981,
despite the economic recovery and a reduction in the real
value of
PEM compensation.
When Chile entered a new and more severe recession, the
number
of individuals employed by PEM in the Metropolitan Region
of
Santiago increased from about 23,000 in May 1982 to 93,000
in May
1983. An Employment Program for Heads of Households
(Programa de
Ocupación para Jefes de Hogar--POJH), created in October
1982,
employed about 100,000 individuals in the greater Santiago
area by
May 1983. The two programs combined absorbed more than 10
percent
of the labor force of the greater Santiago area in May
1983. These
programs were also implemented in other regions of the
country. The
PEM program was cut back drastically in February 1984.
Likewise, by
December 1988, there were only about 5,000 individuals
employed by
the POJH in the entire country.
Data as of March 1994
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