Law No. 21.431, which has been in effect since September 1, 2022, has significantly altered the criteria for assessing working conditions in the Chilean platform economy by setting minimum standards for working hours, remuneration and access to social security; however, according to the findings of this report, there are still many areas where more evidence is needed to ensure that the platform economy in Chile is fair for workers. At least until the second quarter (April-June) of 2023, the law did not appear to have reduced the rate of informality in the digital economy.
Given the growth in Chile’s platform economy in recent years, the conditions of work in this sector are impacting an increasing number of Chileans. According to the most recent statistics from the National Statistics Institute (INE), 2.3% of the country’s total workforce is employed in the gig economy. In April-June 2024, 53,712 people declared jobs carried out through digital platforms as their main occupation. Most of these workers are in the Santiago Metropolitan Region, where a significant amount of this research was carried out.