The Chile of a million immigrants in the labor force

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – There are approximately 1.9 million immigrants with jobs in Chile, according to figures made public last week by the National Statistics Institute (INE), which in its core showed an improvement in employment numbers.

For the first time, the number of foreigners with jobs in the country is in seven figures, a rise occurring steadily in recent years. The previous milestone of half a million had occurred in 2017.

For Manuel Hidalgo, spokesman for the National Coordinating Committee of Immigrants, “the employment figure for migrant workers in Chile is satisfactory. Moreover, the unemployment rate is lower than that governing the labor force. The migrant population manages to find employment and what is important is that their rate of informal work is similar to the Chilean rate”.

According to a study by the Jesuit Migrant Service (SJM), with data from the latest Casen Survey, between 2017 and 2020, the employment rates of the migrant population decreased from 75% to 68%, and unemployment had increased from 8% to 10%, but the relevant data is that in both cases, it presents a better percentage of employment than the general population in Chile.

This is explained because “labor is the initial motivation for migration and necessary to establish oneself”, explains Juan Bravo in a study for the UDP, quoted by the SJM, which also rejects the idea that labor informality is centered on immigrants since the percentage differences were not significant (24% foreigners and 28% Chileans).

The million workers who have joined the national labor force have not had an easy task. According to Francisca Vargas, director of the Legal Clinic for Migrants and Refugees of the UDP, “the main problem foreigners have is obtaining visas in the time required to access employment. Many times, they are not hired or are forced to work clandestinely”.

In this case, adds Lya Rojas, director of Rojas Abogados, “abuses are committed with foreigners who are not legally present because they cannot denounce for fear of being deported. But the law protects the worker without distinction of being Chilean or foreigner”.

The general rule of prohibition of change of migratory category is very harmful because it even forces them to travel to their country to regularize their situation, adds Francisca Vargas, who points out that “we hope that the current authority can change this and that people can look for work under equal conditions”.

ATTRACTIVE TO WORK DESPITE NOT PRACTICING THE PROFESSION

Since the most recent stage of migration began, there has been a recurring phenomenon: foreigners have to work in very different jobs, most of the time of lower hierarchy, than the profession they exercised in their countries.

From the National Coordinator of Immigrants, Manuel Hidalgo, explains that “foreigners sometimes do not manage to work in the areas for which they have technical or professional qualifications. I would say that a significant percentage is employed in areas for which they are overqualified”. The spokesperson indicates that this is due to “the economic difficulties and also the time needed to validate the degrees. It was a costly process only done by the University of Chile, but I understand that a new law opened this function to other universities”.

According to the SJM study, although there is a higher percentage of labor participation in migrants than in Chileans, “income in the main occupation decreased 14.3% for migrant workers between 2015 and 2020, while for Chileans, it increased 23.1%”, which would be due to “the increase in the migrant labor force with higher education that could not access jobs commensurate with those qualifications”.

In any case, Hidalgo assures, although “Chile has had a drop in the generation of employment and it is perceived that it is difficult to find a good job”, it continues to be an attractive destination to settle and work. “It is perceived that there is less informality than in other countries and labor and social rights institutions, despite the prevailing neoliberalism. And the other advantage is the exchange rate difference, because even if you receive a minimum salary of CLP 350,000 or CLP 400,000 (US$460) and if a migrant sends US$100 or US$150 to Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, mainly, they have an important purchasing power there,” Hidalgo closes.

RITA LAGES DE OLIVEIRA: “RACISM IN CHILE DOES NOT START NOW; IT IS STRUCTURAL”

Rita Lages de Oliveira is a lawyer, academic at the University of Chile Law School, and member of the Steering Committee of the Chair of Racism and Contemporary Migrations.

Have Chileans’ perceptions of immigrant workers been changing?
“When a country faces an increase in migration, at first, the attitude is defensive, with a racist and xenophobic narrative, but as people learn about the benefits of a racially, culturally, etc. diverse society, attitudes can change. For the better.”

What is the job of the state?
“Racism in Chile does not start now; it has been structural for a long time. Migration only makes visible racist discourses that were already brewing internally. Ministries should be involved, from Education to Social Development and others, and introduce a culture of rights. Human rights are also for migrants, whether as workers, students or others.”

Are they valued?
“Migrants have more years of schooling than nationals, which means that migrant workers can be a very productive and positive labor force for the national market, which demands that the labor force necessarily be occupied by foreigners, given the vacuum that may exist in the domestic labor market.”

With information from Publimetro