Average Salary in Chile

Table of Contents

How much does a Chilean worker earn?

The average monthly salary in Chile is 1,870,000 CLP for a full-time employee. That would put the average Chilean worker’s yearly income at around $38,000 USD or €26,783.

The average wage in Chile has been increasing since the late 1990s by about 1% per year. During the period of high economic growth after, the average wage increases by 2% per year, although this is still less than inflation.

The average worker in Chile works about 2000 hours per year (40h/week x 50 weeks), which means the average salary is around $19/hour or €13.60/hour.

Salary Structure in Chile

The PayScale

Chilean wages vary from 473,000 CLP a month to 473,000 CLP a month. Since we don’t know how many hours a typical worker works in a month, we cannot say that workers get paid for their full working time.

So while some people may be getting paid less than CLP 473,000 monthly, the average is CLP 546,000 based on the salary distribution chart.

Earnings Per Capita

Assuming a median monthly income of 1,940,000 CLP, that implies half of all workers are paid less this amount and the other half are paid over it. In comparison, the average income in 2010 was 2,236,000 CLP.

The economy of Chile has been growing rapidly over the past years, reaching a rate of 5% in 2011 and 2012. The human development index (HDI) is relatively high in comparison to other Latin American countries. In 2019, Chile was ranked 24th on the HDI, which is also an improvement compared to 2005 when it was placed at 32nd.

Percentiles

In this country, 25% of the population earns less than 1,090,000 CLP, while 75% earn more. It’s easy to see, too, that 75% of people make under 5,350,000 CLP, with the other 25% making more than 5,350,000 CLP.

In terms of compensation, what is the difference between the average and the median?

The compensation is the payment given in return for work done. The average refers to what is calculated when adding up all of the individual salaries and dividing that number by the total number of employees.

Median, on the other hand, is the middle value in a series of numbers. In the event that there is an even number of employees, the median is determined by finding the average salary of the two middle-most employees.

In other words, what will be used to calculate compensation can change based on how many people are being paid and which numbers are included when calculating the final number.

In terms of compensation, the difference between the average and the median is that a number calculated as an average will be affected by any outliers whereas a median will not be changed by either outliers or an even number of employees.

In other words, if there is one very high salary in a company then it affects what people might make in comparison to what they would make if that number did not exist.

A median, however, is always the same no matter how many people are being paid or what other numbers are included in the calculation. The median will only change when there is an even number of employees.

Comparing Salaries Based on Years of Work Experience

How does a person’s wage change over the course of a year?

One way to look at this is through comparison based on years of work experience. A person who has worked for one year makes less than someone with four years of work experience, but they make more if their job requires advanced expertise or knowledge.

Because each job requires different training and skills, not everyone can do them all.

In Chile, the average wage for someone in their first year of work is around CLP 25,000,000. However, CLP 35,500,000 is the average wage for someone with four to five years of work experience.

After ten years of employment in the same field or industry, an average worker earns around CLP 55,000,000 per year. The highest-paid workers are those who have worked for over 20 years, an average of which is around CLP 65,000,000.

After the first year of work experience, wages increase at a very gradual rate until about ten years in when they take off and keep increasing gradually until twenty years.

Comparing Salaries Based on Education

How does your education level affect your pay?

In Chile, it is a well-known fact that the higher your education level, the more you will make.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) annual report on education shows that those with a bachelor’s degree or equivalent make double as much as those without any type of postsecondary education.

In Chile specifically, the more educated you are, the more likely it is that you will get paid more.

The OECD report shows that in Chile, workers with a tertiary education make almost 60% of what peers who only completed high school make. Furthermore, this makes up about 36% of all employed individuals and means that those who have a tertiary education also have a higher probability of finding work.

Bachelor degree holders in Chile make a median income of 40,000 Chilean Pesos (about €60,000). On the other hand, those who only have a high school degree earn half that amount.

According to Chile’s National Statistics Institute, each year about 75% of workers change jobs; most often voluntarily and due to dissatisfaction with their former positions. However, those with a bachelor’s degree only change jobs about once every five years.

Comparison of Gender-Based Pay Scales

On average, men in Chile earn 6% more than women in all industries combined. In the mining industry, men receive 20% more than women. In the financial services and insurance industries, women out-earn men by 4%.

The reason for this is that men are more likely to hold top-level positions in their companies. They are paid more because they have obtained higher pay grades at work. Female workers are underrepresented in top-level positions.

This pay difference is within the legal limits, but only just barely. The Chilean government has implemented laws to try to remedy this issue by imposing quotas for women on boards of directors in certain companies.

Chile’s Typical Annual Salary Increase Percentage

In Chile, how much is the yearly raise in pay? In what percentage of the time do workers get raises in their salary?

The average Chile yearly salary increase percentage is 9.1%. Chile’s Labor Code establishes that all permanent workers receive an annual salary increase, which may be applied every December 1st of each year or when the business enters its accounting period in any month other than December.

According to the Social Security Authority of Chile, this raise must be at least 2% higher than the previous amount for minimum wage earners and 3% higher for other employees.

However, some companies have practices of increasing salaries less than what is possible according to the law; this percentage varies depending on the company itself.

Every time a Chilean worker changes job, he/she earns five extra days’ pay; this rule has been in effect since the early 1990s.

Annual Growth Rate by Industry in

In Chile, workers could expect to get a 7.5% rise in their pay every 19 months. On average, this is a pretty good pay increase every year and almost every worker in Chile could expect to get an increase in their wages.

The Annual Growth Rate by Industry in gives the expected annual percentage growth rate of specific industries this year. The highest industry with the highest growth rate is:

Manufacturing -5%
Construction( – 4.7%
Transportation and Warehousing – 4.6%
Retail Trade – 4.5%

Average Rate of Salary Growth by Level of Experience in Chile

There are different levels of experience when it comes to working in a company. There are people who have just started their career, and there are others that have worked for many years or even decades.

In Chile, the average rate of salary growth by the level of experience is around 9%. However, for first-year employees, the average salary growth is 5% while it’s 6% for people with 5 or more years of working experience.

This discrepancy between increased salaries can be explained by the fact that companies tend to offer lower salaries at the beginning so as to have room to grow them if their performance warrants it.

5+ Years Experience: 1%
10+ Years Experience: 1.8%
15+ Years Experience: 2.6%

When looking specifically at how much an employee earns after 15 years of working in Chile, there are actually three different rates of pay increase.

First-year employees earn twice as little as someone who has worked 15 years in a company, while people who have put in 5-9 years of work earn 1.5 times more than the first-year employee.

This means that a person with 15 years of experience earns almost three times as much money as a first-year worker in Chile.

Chilean Bonuses and Incentive Payouts

How much and how often are bonuses given out?

The majority of Chilean workers are paid a bonus. They are expected to work for an allotted amount of time before they can receive their bonus payouts. Some companies do not give bonuses very often; maybe once or twice per year.

Other companies, particularly in the retail industry, will typically offer bonuses more frequently. Once every three months is common, and some even work on a monthly basis.

Bonus payments tend to be one-time payouts that occur only after working at the company for X number of years. Bonuses will increase after each works’ anniversary date, but there is no guarantee they will be given out every year.

Chilean workers enjoy very good employee benefits and protections offered by the government. One of these is Chile’s 480 mandatory rest days per year rule (these exclude weekends). Chileans also enjoy paid vacations up to three weeks in length, not including the additional bank holidays they may get.

The amount of money employees make with bonuses is usually dependent on their age. The older the worker, the greater the chances are that they have been working for their company longer and therefore will receive a larger percentage of their yearly wage as a bonus payout.

Chile also has strong unions that can influence rules, regulations, and salary rates across different companies within each industry sector.

Various Bonuses

Individual Bonuses Based on Employee Performance

This kind of bonus is designed to boost the morale of your employees.

It is not uncommon in companies nowadays to reward their employees with bonuses if they perform well, but only a few would pay bonuses based on individual performance.

It works like this: when an employee has completed his or her tasks according to certain standards set by management, he or she will receive a bonus based on that task’s performance metrics.

Individual Bonuses Based on Employee Performance is usually given out yearly and it might be part of one’s base pay package or completely separate from it. Individual bonuses are often higher than usual compared to standard company-wide bonuses.

Bonuses for Company Performance

These are used to show appreciation for employees. Bonuses are incentive pay that provides an added benefit to the worker’s regular earnings, which is distributed on top of the standard wage or salary.

Businesses use bonuses as a means to motivate their employees and reward performance excellence. A bonus can be given for superior target achievement, extra effort beyond expectations, or simply doing one’s job better than expected.

Achievement-Based Bonuses

Achievement-Based Bonuses are a subset of incentive pay that has been studied extensively by researchers over the past three decades. Achievement-based bonuses are a type of monetary recognition given to employees when they accomplish a task or reach a milestone in their jobs.

Achievement-Based Bonuses can be effective tools for motivating employees because they provide feedback about how well employees are performing and they reinforce the importance of the task or milestone.

This can be particularly beneficial for those who receive achievement-based bonuses as part of their formal performance review since receiving such a bonus helps to legitimize and validate the hard work they put in throughout the year.

Bonuses for the Holidays / Year’s End

Holiday bonuses are not only celebrated during the Christmas season but are also becoming popular around New Year’s. If you work for a company that’s large enough to offer bonuses, the chances are good that you’ll get one this month.

For some employees, year-end bonuses maybe thousands of dollars more than their regular monthly salary. For others, these generous end-of-the-year awards can equal half of what they take home each week.

And for many workers who don’t receive holiday pay from their employers (and even those who do), a year-end bonus is a windfall they can look forward to in January or February when the money starts rolling in again after the holidays have passed and business resumes as usual.

Comparison of Bonuses for Different Types of Workers

What are the criteria by which a job is deemed deserving of generous benefits and a respectable wage?

In Chile, there are four primary criteria for this distinction: occupation, level of education required to be qualified for the job, level of responsibility expected from the worker and how much experience is needed to fill that particular position.

These qualifications should take into account a worker’s ability to meet deadlines as well as their capacity to work efficiently under pressure.

Another important factor in determining what should be a dignified salary is whether or not an employee has reached full capacity after long-term employment with one employer.

Generally speaking, managerial jobs usually require at least a high school diploma or equivalent. Jobs such as engineers, teachers and doctors typically require higher levels of education such as college diplomas or advanced degrees (Masters degree).

There are typically three tiers of responsibility that should be taken into consideration when determining what type of wage is fair. “Lower-level” workers generally operate under supervisors or other co-workers, who monitor their work and give them direction

This tier includes things like foodservice employees, bartenders, receptionists and other entry-level jobs.

Higher up on the responsibility scale would-be managers who do not typically have to follow orders from anyone other than superiors; they may supervise other lower-level employees as well as make independent decisions regarding certain aspects of the business.

The highest tier consists of those individuals in top management positions such as CEOs and vice presidents. In these types of positions, it is essential for the worker to plan ahead and be aware of what is going on in all areas of the company at once, sometimes even overseeing several departments simultaneously.

Seniority-Level Bonuses Compared

A seniority-level bonus is an additional payment offered to employees who have worked for an organization or company for a certain amount of time. A short summary of two leading models shows how these bonuses generally work.

Senior workers in Chile are paid a large bonus after working for one year, but this is replaced by payments made every month after the seniority level has been maintained for five years.

Salaries for High-Paying Careers

Administration / Reception / Secretarial

Administrative Assistant – 989,000 CLP
Office Manager – 1,570,000 CLP
Receptionist – 692,000 CLP
Secretary – 874,000 CLP

Automotive

Mechanic – 726,000 CLP
Service Advisor – 1,320,000 CLP
Auto Body Repairer – 726,000 CLP

Bank / Financials

Bank Teller – 692,000 CLP
Financial Advisor- 1,333,000 CLP
Insurance Agent – 1,320,000 CLP
Banking Specialist – 989,000 CLP

Finance and Accounting

Financial Analyst – 1,333,000 CLP
Accounting Manager – 1,570,000 CLP
Bookkeeping Clerk – 692,000 CLP

Customer Service / Call Center / Technical Support / Help Desk

Call Center Representative – 692,000 CLP
Customer Care Agent – 874,000 CLP
Technical Support- 989,000 CLP
Help Desk Operator- 726,000 CLP

Construction and Manufacturing

Carpenter – 726,000 CLP
Architectural Drafter – 1,333,000 CLP
Production Manager- 1,570,000 CLP
Sales Representative- 874,000 CLP
Industrial Engineer- 989,000 CLP
Mechanical Engineer- 1,320,000 CLP
Construction Worker – 692,000 CLP

Cook / Chef / Baker

Executive Chef – 1,333,000 CLP
Pastry Chef – 989,000 CLP
Caterer – 874,000 CLP
Baker- 726,000 CLP

Education and Training

Childcare Worker- 1,174.00 CLP
Teaching Assistant- 474,00 CLP
Classroom Monitor- 726,00 CLP

Typical Chilean Earnings Per Hour

In Chile, the average hourly earnings are 10,800 CLP. For every hour of labor, the typical Chilean earns roughly 10,800 CLP. This is a rough estimation, based on multiple sources.

In, the average Chilean hourly earnings are estimated to be roughly 11,600 CLP. If we take inflation into account as well, this number is likely to be lower.

Salary Comparison: Public vs. Private Sectors in Chile

Employees in Chile’s public sector earn, on average, 7% more than their private sector. The difference is lower for higher-skilled workers. The public sector in Chile consists of the central government, local and regional governments.

The private sector in Chile is made up of all non-governmental entities including corporations and small businesses.

The average wage in the private sector was CLP 665,000 (USD $1,028.40) in 2008 while the average wage in the public sector was CLP 760,000 (USD $1,180.00). The average salary in both sectors has increased since then and is expected to rise further by 2% in 2012.

Under Chilean law, the minimum wage must be at least 45% of what an experienced adult worker earns. This means that a new employee can expect to make at least 55% of his or her seniority counterpart’s wages.

Public employees are entitled to nine days of annual leave while private-sector employees receive eleven working days off per year; however, this comparison does not take into account non-working federal holidays which are observed nationwide regardless of employment status.