Unemployment in Biobío reaches 10.6% and labor informality increases

The labor market situation in the Biobío Region showed a setback during the moving quarter May-July 2026. According to the latest Quarterly Employment Bulletin from the National Statistics Institute (INE), the regional unemployment rate reached 10.6%, increasing 1.5 percentage points in twelve months.

The result is mainly explained by a greater drop in employed persons compared to the labor force. While employed persons decreased 2.7%, the labor force fell 1.1%. As a consequence, unemployed persons increased 15.2% year-on-year, reaching 83,122 people, that is, 10,994 more than in the same period of the previous year.

In total, the region recorded 783,373 people in the labor force and 700,251 employed. The labor force participation rate reached 56%, while the employment rate stood at 50%, noting a drop of 1.8 percentage points in twelve months.

Sectors on the decline

The reduction in employment was marked by the performance of some economic sectors. Education, with a drop of 13.7%, and manufacturing industry, which fell 9.6%, were the activities that had the most negative impact on the regional result.

In contrast, there were sectors that showed positive development. Commerce increased 6.1%, while accommodation and food service activities grew 20.5% in twelve months. By sex, male employment fell 3.6%, influenced especially by the 11.5% decrease in manufacturing industry. Among women, employment fell 1.5%, mainly due to the 16.5% drop in education.

By occupational categories, the decline was driven mainly by formal wage earners, which decreased 5.5%, and employers, which fell 10.1%. In the opposite direction, informal wage earners increased 7.4%.

More informal employment

One of the elements that generates the most attention in the figures is the advance of informality. Informally employed persons increased 6.7% in twelve months, equivalent to 12,114 additional people, while the informal employment rate reached 27.6%, 2.5 percentage points more than a year earlier.

The increase was greater among women, whose informal employment increased 11.7%, compared to the 2.4% recorded among men. By economic activity, growth was driven mainly by commerce, with an increase of 15.3%, and accommodation and food service, which advanced 50.6%.

Informality currently affects 30.2% of employed women and 25.5% of men. The increase in this type of employment contrasts with the drop recorded in formal employment and constitutes one of the main changes observed in the regional labor market during the period.

Another indicator that highlights the difficulties of the labor market is involuntary part-time work. Employed persons under this modality increased 32.7% in twelve months, while those working part-time voluntarily decreased 6.3%.

By age groups, the greatest drop in employment was concentrated among people aged 15 to 34, a segment that recorded a decrease of 11.5%. In contrast, the group aged 55 and over was the only one that showed a positive impact, with growth of 3.6%.

In the national comparison, Biobío ranked among the regions with the highest unemployment rates. The 10.6% recorded matched the level of Los Ríos and was only below Ñuble, which reached 11%. Nationwide, the unemployment rate was 9.5%.

The figures paint a challenging scenario for the regional labor market: less employment, higher unemployment, and significant growth in informality, in a context where some productive sectors manage to generate new jobs, but fail to compensate for the losses recorded in activities such as education and manufacturing industry.