The real wages of Chileans, adjusted for the monthly variation of inflation, decreased last February by 0.7 percent year-on-year, accumulating 17 months of consecutive monthly decreases, the Chilean National Statistics Institute (INE) reported today, Wednesday.
The INE results indicate that Chileans have lost purchasing power due to inflation amid a global economic crisis.
According to the institution’s figures, the seasonally adjusted absolute remuneration index registered a variation of 1.2 percent in the second month of the year.
In the second month of 2023, the nominal compensation and labor cost indexes registered 12-month increases of 11.2 and 10.9 percent, respectively.
The economic sectors of the manufacturing industry, commerce, and financial and insurance activities recorded the highest positive annual impacts in the indicators above.
According to the report, the average wage per ordinary hour was 6,287 Chilean pesos (about US$7.8), a year-on-year increase of 11.6 percent.
At the same time, the average total hourly labor cost was 7,174 Chilean pesos (about US$8.9), up 11.4 percent in 12 months.
As for the gender pay gap, the average per regular hour had a reduction of 8.9 percent and a 9.2 percent decrease in the average total hourly labor cost.