The opposition demands immediate solutions, yet bears responsibility for maintaining a system that has left the country precarious for decades. Chile's current labor crisis reveals a failing structure, a lack of political will, and a moral debt to its own victims.
By Rodolfo Varela
Chile is currently facing a deep labor crisis. According to recent data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the country has reached an unemployment rate of 8.9% — the third highest among OECD member nations. This figure is more than a technical statistic; it reflects a worn-out economic model, a disconnected political class, and a social structure still haunted by wounds that were never properly healed.
Right-wing opposition lawmakers, such as Mauro González (RN) and Sofía Cid (Prep), expressed "concern" and demanded urgent measures from the current administration. Yet, the public has not forgotten that both the right and parts of the center-left have long been complicit in upholding a system that favors economic growth without equity, undermining labor rights and weakening the role of the state.
Imágen Que Describen El Contraste Entre La Pobreza Y La Riqueza
Corruption and lack of vision: politics in debt to the people
Unemployment is not an isolated issue. It is directly linked to poor planning, the absence of modern production policies, and a state captured by party politics and private interests. Add to that a history of systemic corruption—illicit campaign financing, cronyism in public tenders, and broken promises—and it becomes clear why citizens feel abandoned.
While political leaders argue endlessly in Congress, thousands of families wait for concrete action. Yet the focus remains on ideological posturing rather than building a real national project.
Where are the new industries?
Chile remains anchored to an extractivist model based on raw exports like copper and lithium, with little to no value added, no long-term industrial policy, and minimal investment in R&D. There’s been no serious attempt to develop new labor sources in strategic sectors like renewable energy, science, technology, or the creative economy.
Talks of modernization and entrepreneurship are contradicted by a harsh reality where small and medium-sized businesses face suffocating regulations and an absence of public investment in innovation and human capital.
Women still locked out of the system
More than 450,000 women are currently out of the labor market. According to Javiera Rodríguez, director of Mentoras, the government's gender agenda has prioritized symbolism over substance. Reducing work hours without offsetting measures, raising the minimum wage without considering hiring costs, or announcing reforms without proper technical groundwork—none of these have helped close the gender gap.
“Women don’t need speeches; they need real opportunities, flexibility, and conditions that allow them to move forward with autonomy,” Rodríguez said.
Unpaid debts: the unresolved legacy of the dictatorship
Amid discussions about unemployment and economic growth, there remains a moral and structural debt rarely addressed: Chile’s historical debt to the victims of the military dictatorship.
Thousands who were tortured, disappeared, exiled, or executed still live in precarious conditions. Many receive miserable pensions through the very same privatized system—AFP—that was implemented under the regime that stripped them of their rights.
❝The democratic transition was negotiated, and justice was postponed. If we talk about development, it cannot be built on impunity and forgetfulness.❞
While the political right continues to deny the extent of the atrocities committed, many in the center-left have chosen silence over confrontation, afraid to challenge the same economic elites who have dominated since the 1990s.
Today, any “new social contract” must begin with active remembrance, justice, and full reparations.
Toward a Chile that is truly ours
Chile doesn’t need more empty rhetoric—it needs decisive action. A just nation cannot be built on exclusion, amnesia, or inequality.
The country needs clean politics, a productive vision, and a genuine commitment to social justice. Investing in new industries, creating dignified jobs, advancing gender equity, and closing economic gaps is not ideology—it’s development with dignity.
Conditions for 'Never Again'?As Senate candidate Janet Jara has emphasized, structural reforms require political will—and also parliamentary majorities. Demanding change isn’t enough; the country must create the conditions to make those changes possible.
Chile has the history, the resources, and the people. What it now needs—urgently—is courage.
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