Chile's minimum wage increase takes effect

The basic income for workers in the country will be half a million pesos (about US$537 at current exchange rates). This is reported by Cronica Digital, a partner of TV BRICS.

Thanks to a law presented by the executive branch last April and approved by the National Congress a month later, workers will also receive a number of benefits, including a single-family benefit adjustment and the so-called e-pocket.

The former is granted to the unemployed or those working in the informal sector and will henceforth be maintained if they find a minimum wage job, Chile's Finance Minister Mario Marcel said.