New regulation sets requirements and amounts for the Unified Employment Subsidy

The Ministry of Labor and Social Security published Decree No. 75, which approves the regulation for the execution of Law No. 21.808 and implements the new Unified Employment Subsidy System. The regulation was disseminated in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile No. 44.562, dated Wednesday, September 30, 2026, and comes into effect on October 1, 2026. The text establishes requirements, amounts, payment deadlines, and grounds for exclusion for companies and workers throughout the country.

The decree, issued by the Undersecretariat of Labor, is dated June 24, 2026, and bears the signatures of President José Antonio Kast Rist, the Minister of Labor and Social Security Tomás Rau Binder, and the Minister of Finance Jorge Quiroz Castro; it is transcribed by the Undersecretary of Labor Gustavo Rosende Salazar. The Comptroller General of the Republic processed the act with scope through official letter No. OF184153/2026, dated September 29, 2026, signed by the Comptroller Dorothy Pérez Gutiérrez, specifying that the reference to Article 46 of Law No. 19.880 must be understood as referring solely to the notification of administrative acts.

The subsidy is a monetary benefit funded by the treasury and administered by the National Training and Employment Service (Sence), under the supervision of the Superintendency of Social Security (Suseso). Law No. 21.808 created the system to promote decent work and formal employment, and the regulation details its complete operation: application, processing, determination, payment, recalculation, and reimbursement of undue payments.

Priority groups and access requirements

The regulation defines four priority groups to access the benefit:

• Youth between 18 and 24 years, 11 months, and 30 days.
• Women between 25 and 54 years, 11 months, and 30 days.
• Persons aged 55 and over.
• Persons with disabilities registered in the National Disability Registry (RND), aged 18 and over.

For dependent workers, the requirements are a monthly gross income equal to or less than 2.25 times the Minimum Monthly Income (IMM), set at $529,000; belonging to a priority group; proving at least 6 continuous months of unemployment or 8 discontinuous months within the 18 months prior to application; meeting the current socioeconomic vulnerability level—the 40% during the first year—and not having been convicted of misuse of the subsidy according to Article 467 of the Penal Code. Persons with disabilities registered in the RND are exempt from the vulnerability requirement.

Companies, meanwhile, must hire people from priority groups for twelve months, pay first-category taxes, be up to date with labor and social security obligations, apply within three months of the start of the employment relationship, and have no convictions for anti-union practices, violation of fundamental rights, or bankruptcy crimes in the previous two years.

Amounts, deadlines, and payment method

The contribution is equivalent to a percentage of up to 20% of the monthly gross remuneration, with a floor of 10% and a ceiling of 20% for companies and workers, who together must total 30% per priority group. During the first year of the law’s validity, the percentage will be 20% for companies and 10% for workers.

• Duration: 12 months; 15 months for people with disabilities and for micro and small enterprises.
• Limit per company: up to 200 workers.
• Companies with 1 to 199 workers: 50% of the installment in the first month, 75% in the second, 100% in the third and, from the fourth onwards, the full installment plus any remaining balances.
• Companies with 200 or more workers: first payment in the fourth month, with the four accumulated installments.
• Dependent workers: monthly provisional payments of 90%, with an annual settlement in August.
• Independent workers: single annual payment in August.
• Automatic application: beneficiaries of the employment subsidies of Law No. 20,338, Article 21 of Law No. 20,595, and the youth social security subsidy of Law No. 20,255 will apply automatically at the end of their temporary employment.

Applications are submitted electronically through the Ventana Única Social (VUS), a platform managed by the Ministry of Social Development and Family, and Sence must resolve them before the end of the month following the month of application.

Oversight, sanctions, and grounds for exclusion

Sence administers and oversees the system and may request information from beneficiaries within 10 business days, extendable by up to 5 days. Suseso exercises super-surveillance of the service and may issue general regulations for its operation.

The subsidy is terminated upon expiration of the term, death of the worker, resignation, failure to meet the granting requirements, or loss of the benefit. It is suspended, among other cases, while the person receives subsidies for work incapacity, occupational accidents, or illness of a child under one year old, and if they exceed a gross income of 2.25 IMM. The company loses the contribution for two continuous or discontinuous months of unpaid contributions, and also if it is sanctioned for infringing Article 9 of the Labor Code, repeats labor non-compliance, or is convicted of anti-union practices or bankruptcy crimes.

Anyone who provides false data to receive the subsidy, or includes non-existent workers in the payrolls, shall be sanctioned with the penalties of article 467 of the Penal Code. The reimbursement of amounts received in excess must be paid within a maximum period of 15 business days, and anyone who does not restore them may not be a beneficiary again for five years.

The regulation operationalizes for the first time the Unified Employment Subsidy System and directly affects employers and unemployed persons throughout the country, who from October must apply through the VUS and prove the new eligibility requirements. The rule also grants Sence broad powers for cross-verification of data with the Internal Revenue Service, the Labor Directorate, and the Superintendencies of Pensions and Social Security, with criminal and civil sanctions for those who declare false information.

Source: Official Gazette of the Republic of Chile, No. 44,562, September 30, 2026, Section I, pp. 1-19 (official reference: CVE 2880088).