Chile's Labor Reactivation Plan Criticized for Shifting Risks to Workers

Reynaldo Lam Peña, a law professor at the Universidad Diego Portales, wrote an opinion piece in La Voz de Maipú analysing the Ministry of Labor and Social Security's Labor Reactivation Table report, which proposes 22 measures to tackle high formal unemployment in Chile. While he acknowledges that the proposals have technical foundations and address an urgent problem, Lam argues that many of them increase employer control over what work can be demanded, when it can be demanded, and under what conditions employment can be terminated. He warns that the associated risks and uncertainties will be borne by workers, effectively placing the cost of economic freedom and growth on employees' backs and potentially eroding labor rights. Lam calls for a systemic, comprehensive debate to clarify and address these risks.