* Chile’s national statistics institute (INE) has released the latest employment figures which show that unemployment stood at 8.8% in the May to July rolling quarter. This indicates a year-on-year increase of 0.9 percentage points. The number of unemployed people increased by 14.1% in yearly terms, impacted by those who were unemployed (14.7%) and by those looking for work for the first time (7.8%). According to the INE, this is the ninth annual increase in unemployment following continuous decreases. The INE notes that the rate of informal employment stood at 26.9%, up by 0.3 percentage points year-on-year.