Biobío leads national unemployment despite job growth

The Biobío Region began 2026 facing a complex labor scenario. According to data provided by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), the unemployment rate reached 10% during the moving quarter of January-March, positioning itself as the highest in the country and highlighting the difficulties the regional labor market still faces.

Behind this figure lies a paradox: employment actually increased compared to the same period last year. More than 11,000 people joined the workforce over the past twelve months, reflecting a 1.6% expansion in the number of employed persons. However, the influx of new workers into the labor force was even greater, generating an increase in the number of unemployed.

In absolute terms, more than 80,000 people are currently seeking employment in the region. Labor force growth reached 2.8%, while the number of unemployed persons increased by 14.3% compared to last year.

Women drive job creation

One of the most notable phenomena of the period was the female role in generating new jobs. While male employment showed a slight decline, employment among women grew by 5.4%, driving a large part of the regional increase.

Furthermore, female labor force participation continued to advance, reaching 48.8%, a sign that more women are entering the labor market. However, this process was also accompanied by an increase in the female unemployment rate, which reached 11.3%.

This behavior reflects a common dynamic in periods of economic recovery: more people decide to seek work attracted by better expectations, but the market does not always manage to absorb that demand with the same speed.

Professional services and industry lead growth

Professional, scientific, and technical activities were the main driver of job creation during the quarter, followed by the manufacturing industry.

By occupational categories, self-employed workers and domestic service personnel stood out particularly, segments that recorded significant increases compared to the previous year.

Likewise, professionals, scientists, and intellectuals were among the occupational groups with the best performance, along with elementary occupations.

In contrast, sectors such as health and mining experienced declines in their employment levels, while machinery operators and assemblers recorded one of the largest decreases among occupational groups.

Informality continues to rise

Another element that concerns specialists is the advance of labor informality. During the quarter, the informal employment rate reached 27%, increasing almost two percentage points compared to the same period in 2025.

In practice, this means that nearly 196,000 people carry out work activities without access to the protections associated with formal employment.

Women again concentrated the largest increases in this indicator, raising female informality to 29.1%, above the 25.5% observed in men.

The growth of informality was mainly concentrated among self-employed workers and in activities linked to households as employers.

The figures also show a significant increase in involuntary part-time work, that is, people who work fewer hours than they would like due to a lack of job opportunities.

This group grew by more than 41% in one year, reflecting additional pressure on the regional labor market.

The so-called labor pressure rate, which considers both those seeking employment and those who are working but wish to change or supplement their occupation, reached 18.4%, showing that a significant portion of workers continue to seek better opportunities.

While employment continues to grow slowly, the data shows that the main challenge for Biobío is no longer just generating jobs, but also creating formal, stable employment capable of absorbing the growing influx of people into the labor market.