SANTIAGO, CHILE — Unemployment among foreigners in Chile has fallen to its lowest level in months. Analysts say the drop reflects a shrinking Venezuelan workforce, not a stronger job market. The change comes as President José Antonio Kast, in office since March 11, faces a national labor market that has been weak for years.

Chile’s National Statistics Institute (INE) reported on October 2 that unemployment among foreigners was 6.8% in June–August, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier and below the national rate of 9.6%. The foreign labor force fell 2.3% over the year, while the number of employed foreigners fell 0.9%.

The rate dropped mainly because fewer people were looking for work, not because more were employed.

The Observatorio del Contexto Económico (OCEC) of Universidad Diego Portales ties the shift to Venezuelans. Its report, covered by BioBioChile and Bloomberg Línea, found the Venezuelan labor force down about 57,000 people, or roughly 8.1%, in a year. OCEC director Juan Bravo described “a gradual process of emigration.”

The decline began before Kast took office. In June, Emol reported that more than 45,000 Venezuelans had left Chile’s labor market in 12 months, with the contraction starting around September 2025 and speeding up in 2026.

Who is Leaving?

The departures are concentrated among Venezuelans who have lived in Chile for under five years. They account for 80.1% of the annual decline in the Venezuelan labor force, according to figures reported by Diario Financiero for January–March.

The report found that those leaving are mainly men aged 25–49 with completed higher education. BioBioChile reported that people without jobs are leaving more intensely, so weak job prospects may be one factor among others.

For those who stay, conditions have worsened. Between January and March, the Venezuelan labor force fell 5.4%, employed Venezuelans fell 5.9%, and the number of unemployed Venezuelans rose 5.1%, according to DF.

Venezuelans lost 32,054 jobs, while total employment among foreigners fell by 18,088. Informality among Venezuelan workers rose from 27.9% to 34.4%.

The sources do not name one cause. Bravo and DF point to the U.S. military intervention in early January and the capture of Nicolás Maduro, which raised expectations of a return home.

President Kast, who took office promising tougher action on irregular migration, has said he expects many Venezuelans to return as conditions improve.

Long Labor Slump

Chile’s job market has been weak for years. INE’s national rate was 8.3% in December–February, the last full quarter of Gabriel Boric’s left-wing government.

The Clinic noted that the rate had not fallen below 8% for more than three years, a stretch it dated to early 2023. At the start of Boric’s term in March 2022 it was 7.8%. By the April–June quarter, Meganoticias counted 42 months at or above 8%.

The national rate has risen since then, to 9.6% in June–August, up 1.0 point from a year earlier. Employed persons fell 0.9%. The increase came largely in the months since Kast took office. Reports find that formal private salaried jobs fell about 154,000 over the year, about 99,000 held by Chileans and 55,000 by foreigners.

The foreign decline is the largest on record, worse than during the pandemic.

The shrinking Venezuelan workforce may now be hiding part of that weakness in the foreign unemployment rate.