Jeannette Jara Launches Vital Income of 750,000 Pesos a Month; Campaign Unveils Giant Banner in Central Santiago

The campaign team for Unidad por Chile presidential candidate, Jeannette Jara, unfurled a giant banner in the heart of Santiago spotlighting a central pledge of her government platform: establishing a Vital Income of 750,000 pesos per month.

‘Chile deserves 750,000 pesos per month. It is fair. It is vital. It is secure,’ reads the text on the piece, strategically positioned on the facade of her campaign headquarters in the Paris-Londres quarter

Since last Friday, the image of the banner, set against historic winding, narrow, cobblestone streets, has become a focal point for pedestrians and motorists moving through one of the capital’s most distinctive heritage districts.

A dignified standard of living for workers and their families

In the economic foundations of the government program from Unidad por Chile candidate Jara, titled ‘Growth that reaches every table in Chile’, the former labor and social security minister reaffirms a flagship measure: achieving what she calls a Vital Income of 750,000 pesos per month, with the aim of providing a dignified standard of living for workers and their families, taking the country’s circumstances into account, and calculated as compensation for the
work performed during normal working hours.

According to the document, its gradual implementation would proceed with full consideration of the characteristics and evolution of Chile’s economy and labor market.

The proposal uses a mixed formula that combines raising the minimum wage, a permanent state subsidy for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and a direct transfer to lower-income workers, with the goal of ensuring that no formal job is affected and that the effort is shared among the state, businesses, and the workforce.

Tripartite social dialogue for the 750,000-peso Vital Income

According to Jara’s program, during the first year of government ‘a tripartite social dialogue will be convened, including trade union organizations and business associations, where we will seek to build agreements that set the trajectory and mechanisms to implement the 750,000-peso Vital Income by the end of our government’.

‘This will give economic actors certainty about the evolution of remuneration for work, companies’ labor
costs, and the fiscal effort required. Subsequently, a bill will be sent to the National Congress for consideration,’ the text states.

Likewise, the proposal envisions the Vital Income as the result of three components: raising the monthly minimum income, which will be adjusted above the increase in the cost of living and will also consider observed trends in growth and productivity; a subsidy for smaller companies (SMEs); and a monetary transfer to formal workers with pay equivalent to the monthly minimum income that will top up what is needed to reach the 750,000-peso Vital Income within the government period.

‘In this way, we will deliver concrete improvements to the quality of life of working families, advancing toward the horizon of a living wage,’ the document emphasizes.