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Chile

5%
Population below international poverty line
7%
Population below national poverty line
€469
per month
National minimum wage
€798
per month
Urban living wage
6%
Agricultural workforce
4%
Agriculture share of GDP
3
medium
Risk to workers' rights

Context

Chile has a population of almost 20 million people. The country is highly urbanised, with 88% of its population living in urban areas. The agricultural sector employs 6% of the workforce, and accounts for 3.5% of the country’s GDP.

Chile is one of the leading agricultural producers in Latin America and an important player in the global agri-food landscape. The country’s agricultural sector is highly diversified, as it specialises in a wide variety of products, including wine production and food processing. The sector is divided in two types of agriculture, one of family farming supporting the domestic market and another of high-tech commercial farming focussing on the export market. Especially during the harvest seasons agriculture is a significant source of employment. As for self-employed smallholder farmers, 43% of them own plots of less than 5 hectares. Given agriculture’s significance for the country, Chile’s high climate change vulnerability is alarming. More droughts, desertification and a greater presence of pests are expected, which are all factors capable of degrading agricultural production.

The top produced commodities in Chile are grapes, raw milk, apples, wheat, and potatoes. Similarly, Chile’s top export commodities in terms of quantity are wine, grapes, apples, prepared fruit and cherries.

Wages

Minimum wage

The minimum wage in Chile is set by law at 460,000 Chilean pesos () per month for workers between 18 and 65 years. Below the age of 18 and above the age of 65, the minimum wage is set to 343,150 Chilean pesos () per month. Although labour laws are properly enforced in the formal sector, the government has an insufficient number of labour inspectors to ensure enforcement throughout the whole country. In the informal economy, workers are not guaranteed adequate wages. Most minimum wage violations occur in the retail and the real estate sector. Furthermore, the most vulnerable social group to labour exploitation are ims in the agricultural sector.

Living wage

The Global Living Wage Coalition, has developed a Living Wage study for non-metropolitan urban Chile based on the Anker methodology.

The Anker Living Wage Reference Value for non-metropolitan urban Chile is estimated at 782,549 Chilean pesos () per month. This is the wage workers need to afford a in non-metropolitan urban Chile.

What's happening

resource

Living Wage Reference Value, Non-Metropolitan Urban Chile

Living wage estimate for workers to be able to afford a basic but decent living standard for non-metropolitan urban Chile.

initiative

Formalization: The case of Chile

This ILO report shares practices to address informal labour in Chile with the aim of influencing policy.

initiative

Female Employment and Household Income in Chile

This scientific article focuses on the impact of the development of the Chilean fruit sector for women and household income.

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