Chilean Economy Career Development and Counseling Services
A) Idea, strategy, and basic policy for career development or career support in each individual economy. And, b) Current status of career development and current tasks.
In the last 15 years, Chile has maintained a development strategy focused on active participation in international markets, with an emphasis on the improvement of its export capabilities. The country’s annual economic growth rate has been in average around 4.3%(2000/2007)
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Chilean economy has 16.6 million people of population, with 6,8 million people in the labor force (August 2007, National Institute ofStatistic, Chile) near 6,3 million employed people and 525 hundred thousand unemployed people (7.6% unemployed rate). The principal issue for Chilean Government is improve our productive competitiveness in the global arena, thereby the investment in human capital is “the main stone”. Near 4.3 million people between 15-65 years don’t have secondary education complete. (CASEN)
Our economy has doubling his per capita income in the last 10 years from US$ 4.000 to around US$8.876(2006) this compared with US$39,280 in the USA and with US$1,040 for Philippines, US$25,300 for Spain, and US$25,370 for New Zealand (Economist 2007). Nevertheless, one of the main socio-economic problems in Chile relates to the distribution of income, an area in which some regression has been experienced during this period.
This context has a direct effect on the general educational system as well as on training programs, and consequently on the career guidance services promoted by MINEDUC and SENCE. This includes an increase in demand for these services, both in schools and in the working population, including people entering the labor market for the first time.
Cuadro N 1
All Levels of EducationYear / Total / Parvularia / Especial / Primary education / Total Secondary Education / Secondary Humanistic & Scientific / Secondary Technical education
1999 / 3.429.927 / 274.587 / 46.049 / 2.305.459 / 803.832 / 444.281 / 359.551
2000 / 3.508.509 / 277.361 / 52.608 / 2.355.594 / 822.946 / 456.246 / 366.700
2001 / 3.559.022 / 287.296 / 59.292 / 2.361.721 / 850.713 / 474.641 / 376.072
2002 / 3.601.214 / 298.419 / 64.806 / 2.341.519 / 896.470 / 513.813 / 382.657
2003 / 3.628.711 / 286.381 / 82.999 / 2.312.274 / 947.057 / 571.552 / 375.505
Source: Education Ministry,CHILE. 2003.
Education and training are highly valued by people in a society where social improvement through skill development is receiving ever-greater acceptance. The Educational Reform process has placed education in the center of public debates once again, though the concern focuses mainly on teaching/learning issues, with little attention to date being paid to career guidance services at the basic (primary), secondary and higher (post-secondary) educational levels. Again, significant efforts have been made to broaden the coverage of training for young people and for the adult population, achieving some notable successes, but without promoting, so far, an improvement of the career guidance and employment counseling system.
In Chile the average in years of education is 10,2 years for all people with more than 18 years (source CASEN 2006). It enhanced mean that will increase demand for career development and counseling services, but the government priorities are more focused in improve our social protection system.
Cuadro N 2
Enrollment Secondary Technical EducationIndustrie
Year / Total / Comercial / Industrial / Técnica / Agrícola / Marítima
1999 / 359.551 / 163.629 / 116.785 / 54.676 / 17.869 / 6.592
2000 / 366.700 / 161.391 / 121.670 / 57.155 / 19.774 / 6.710
2001 / 376.072 / 161.360 / 126.721 / 59.871 / 21.315 / 6.805
2002 / 382.657 / 158.158 / 134.395 / 61.259 / 22.894 / 5.951
2003 / 375.505 / 148.101 / 136.128 / 61.256 / 24.676 / 5.344
Source: Education MinistryCHILE, 2003.
The Chilean government has defined as a fundamental objective to develop a social protection network, which will allow access to low income people in Chile to goods and satisfied theirs basic needs like a health care, education, security and employment. Concerns labor market, main issue for the Labor Ministry is going to generate new labor opportunities and better jobs. All kind of programs that have been designed and implemented, like “Apprentice Program”, “Job Replacement Program”, Enterprise Subsidy to Hire Young People Program” have this principal objective; Each of programs have some kind of elements related with career development and labor counseling services but its function does not does in systematic way. The recent discussion put into government agenda interest in this area.
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National Training and Employment Service (SENCE), organization which depend on Labor Ministry after a modification of its organic law enacted in 1996, has focused on two major issues amongst national priorities: widening the coverage of training programs for employed individuals, and insertion of the unemployed into jobs.
These priorities have meant that no systematic definition of permanent objectives and goals for the field of career guidance and employment counseling, which could form a solid base for further actions, has been developed to date.
Cuadro N 3
Employee by Industrial classification, National Level(Thousand of people)
Jul - Sep 2007
Cifras preliminares
Período / Total / Agricultura, Caza, Pesca / Minas y Canteras / Industria Manufacturera / Electricidad, Gas y Agua / Construcción / Comercio / Transporte, Almacenaje y Comunicaciones / Financial Services / Servicios Comunales, Sociales, Personales / N.E.O.C 3/
Jul - Sep
2007 / 6.371,35 / 713,31 / 96,22 / 855,74 / 46,32 / 540,33 / 1.268,76 / 509,54 / 566,81 / 1.774,32 / -
Source: National Survey of employment. INE.
1/ Cifras Preliminares
2/ En algunos casos los totales difieren de la suma de los subtotales, debido a redondeo de cifras, propio del proceso de expansión.
3/ N.E.O.C. Actividades no bien especificadas
However, there is no system of career guidance and employment counseling in Chile and exist lack off the public policy is this area. The basic objective have been provide job opportunities to unemployed people without permanent career development and labor counseling services. Some work is currently been doing based in a lifelong learning policy to develop the basis of such topic, linked to the Chilecalifica Program.
The Chilecalifica Program is one initiative supported by Economic, Education and Labor and social affairs Ministry, the program which began their operation in 2002, has been working in one action line related with the career development and vocational and labor counseling services into the Chilean school’s, focused in young people.
The program, supported by a World Bank loan, is primarily designed to strengthen articulation between, on the one hand, grades 11-12 of technical-vocational secondary schools and, on the other, technical and vocational education within the post-secondary education system, including their links with the labor market. It includes more broadly-based components designed to develop a new web-based career information system, plus related training and support for strengthening the place of career guidance both within the role of school counselors and within the work of the OMILs and other employment intermediation agencies.
Focused in the students too, The Education Ministry has centered its efforts during the larger part of the 1990s and up to the present on an ambitious program of educational reform, with special emphasis on the improvement of the learning processes of students at pre-school, primary and secondary levels.
From view of law framework,in 1996 was established the Law 19.518 for New Statute of Training and Employment, and the functioning of SENCE.
The system of training and employment established by this law has the goal of promoting the development of labor competence amongst workers, in order to contribute to an adequate level of employment, and increase the productivity of workers and companies, as well as improving the quality of processes and products. In the area of employment promotion, the system considers actions oriented to encourage the development and improvement of employment information and counseling mechanisms, as well as technical advice and supervision of organizations that perform such functions.
Labor Ministry, through the respective National Service, will be in charge of supervising the full observance of technical and legal rules that control the functioning of Labor Information Offices.
For best achievement of this goal, the National Service will consider information about OMILs’ functioning provided by committees formed by representatives of workers and employers.
Every Municipality can have a Labor Information Office, will have the following functions: 1. to receive offers and applications for jobs and training in the municipality; 2. to inform and advise eventual beneficiaries of training programs; 3. to relate job offers to applicants; 4. to verify documentation of offers and applicants, as well as job requirements, according to technical norms issued by the National Service; 5. to send a periodic report with information on job and training offers and applications to the National Service and any other public institution that requires it; 6. to perform the functions of employment counseling indicated by the National Service.
Related with the last point, career development and counseling services are in charge of omils, but the performance is too different between them; some omils have professional teams very qualifyand stronger to does it, but other omils don’t have good professional teams to does it.
Related with career information, at national level, discussions on employment rates and related matters are based on statistics collected under the responsibility of the National Institute of Statistics (INE). In particular, INE carries out a quarterly survey of employment, along with many other more specific inquiries. The other main sources of information are the employment survey conducted by the University of Chile for the Central Bank, and the National Socio-Economic Identification Survey (CASEN), carried out every two years by MIDEPLAN. Labor Ministry (MINTRAB) bases its “Labor Observatory” paper on these three regular information sources.
There is website’s able to have labor information related with occupations and job’s ( the information system platform is manage by the National Employment Service, all that information is added by each omil.
Also the Education Ministry has a web site, called “Labor Observatory” on employment patterns after higher education (
C) Current status of public support for the development of sustainable careersthroughout their entire working life and current problems (Three or moregood practices should be indicated as possible) and D) Current status of career development for under-employed workers and those in the informal sector, and current tasks.
One program is Employment Subsidy Fund grant, first initiative implemented by chilean government which aim to develop a training program to employee’s included in subsidy fund. This program encourage and allow that some different sort of services can work together; the services are: employment subsidy, training and labor intermediation. The program is focused in unemployed people whose are receiving unemployment subsidy; the principal objective is improve their labor options and job through up date his competences and gain new skills. Each person is free to choose a training offer from one technical training organization amongst 1.500 existing organizations; it is organizations are certificated under our Chilean quality norm (NCH 2728). The assistance consists in an amount no higher than US$ 357 to pay a training course.
For the first call the program will give about 1.500 scholarships, this benefit will be given throughout whole country by OMIL’s in each local territory (comunas)
The subsidy fund is an element of our social protection policy; it was made in 2002 and began his operation in October 1, 2002. The subsidy is compulsory for workers older than 18 year’s that have been hired under our labor law; The subsidy fund is financed by employee’s with 0.6%, (individual unemployment account) the enterprise 2.4% ( 1.6% to individual unemployment account and 0.8% to universal fund) and by the government, who give around US$14 millions each year.
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Source : AFC – Chile; June 2006
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Source: AFC – Chile; June 2006
The second program is called “job placement to workers older than 40 years”, the principal objective is increase the opportunities to get a job by improving their employability. The initiative considers elements such as: diagnostic, job placement, teachnew skills, and support after labor insertion. Some services are developed by Omil’s staff, in each local territory, but the training programs are executed by training organization. The training offers proposed to the workers are revised by SENCE, in order with some standards, like quality, pertinence, duration andcost; related with the pertinence, the important thing in this issue is what level of competences and skills will be given to the workers, in sense to adjust needs of the industries with competences of the work force. The program, also offers to the enterprise around 40% of the minimum wage (US$114)like a subsidy, to hire those workers for four months.
Each element defined by the program are developed by local employees in different ways, because there areno only one method defined to make it. In some cases, where omil staff has into its team skilled workers, the diagnostic, job placement and support is made with efficiency.In 2006 the program had 2.800 applications in whole national territory. The enterprises whose want to fit in this program; they should go to the Omil’s and fulfill the form.
The third programto youngsters of Chile Solidario Program; this program began in September 2006 as a policies 20 that was given by our President Michelle Bachelet, to facilitate social integration for young people of Chile Solidariosocial protection system. The main objective is to promote employment insertion to young between 18 and 24 years belonging to poor families; the services given through omil’s incorporate, habilitation, job placement and support after employment. The meaning of habilitation process,is to give training to youngsters in basic skillsand concepts (team work, oral and written expression, communication, social abilities) to enable them to achievement a job;
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Source: Employ Department. Sence. 2007
Cuadro N 4: Some results
Source: Employ Department. SENCE. 2007
This training is done by training organizations; the program has about 20 hours and acost of US$125 per each youngster. After first step, the omil’s does job placement service for each person; the process defined, allow pay to enterprise who employ 50% of subsidy of the minimum wage (US$143).This advantage for employers’ is for among 5 to 12 months, furthermore the enterprise get around US$120 to train foryoung workers in specific topic and skills.Omil’s could receive around US$54 as incentive when each young worker has got a job.
Cuadro N 5:
Source: Employ Department. Sence. 2007
Regards with total amount investments in the program, around 9% is invested in habilitation (US$263.000), 6% training (US$ 175.000) and 84% to person hired subsidy (US$2.4 million)
Some lessons learned are related with the main characteristic of the young population: a) many of them don’t have any labor experiences, this point is important when employers are finding workers to one specific job; b) some of them have very high salary expectation, because most of them get higher salary in informal sector; c) the duration of job (months) for many workers is low, lower than industry averagebecause, many youngsters don’t have labor routine, they have lower levels of education and furthermore don’t have money to pay bus ticket.
Lessons learned from the employers: a) The employers have bad perception of youngster belong to chilesolidario program, because they have not good labor routine and behavior. b) the selection process made doesn’t accomplish the principal goal as selected motivatedpeople.
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