Senate President Paulina Núñez (RN) called on José Antonio Kast's government this Sunday to "loosen the purse strings a little" to tackle unemployment. She proposed a work or employment bonus as an exceptional measure.
Núñez spoke on T13's Mesa Central program. According to the outlet, the senator described Chile Despega, the executive branch's strategy to revive the economy and create jobs, as insufficient.
The figures provide the backdrop. According to the National Statistics Institute (INE), unemployment reached 9.6% in the June-August quarter of 2026. The Criteria poll published that same Sunday showed Kast with 27% approval and 64% disapproval, his worst figures in seven months in office.
For Núñez, the two figures are connected. "If there is an emergency in Chile, it is unemployment," she said. She added that security had slipped to second place among people's concerns and warned that once disapproval overtakes approval, "it is very difficult to reverse it."
Regarding Chile Despega, the senator acknowledged that the government is working on the medium and long term. However, she argued that immediate measures are lacking for families without work and for those working in fear of losing their jobs. The sources do not detail the plan's specific content.
Núñez clarified that she is not asking for an IFE (Emergency Family Income, the mass bonus paid during the pandemic), much less a universal one. "We don't believe in bonuses, but when you have an emergency, you have to resort to exceptional measures," she said.
The senator called for the proposal to come formally from the executive branch and have broad political backing. Her stated aim is to prevent the void from being filled by ideas she described as populist. In that context, she was asked about the People's Party's (PDG) intention to push for a new withdrawal of pension funds for people who have been out of work for six months or more.
Núñez also warned of a legislative cost. She said that when a government "is on the decline," its own lawmakers find it difficult to vote for its bills. She recalled that her political bloc had defended the corporate tax cut without question and that the 2027 Budget relies on more public works to generate jobs.
In the same interview, she criticized the elimination of the Elijo mi PC program, which provides computers to students, planned in the 2027 Budget. "I wouldn't have cut it," she said, and asserted that Congress would restore it.
The available sources record no response from La Moneda to the bonus proposal. Núñez set a deadline: she said the government must come forward this week with "concrete responses on employment."
