Chile: Ley 21.808 Unified Employment Subsidy in force, 70,000 apply

Chile's Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare (Mintrab) opened postulation for the Unified Employment Subsidy (Subsidio Unificado al Empleo, SUE) on October 1, 2026, and more than 70,000 applications were filed between October 1 and 2, 2026. Created by Law 21.808 and administered by the Servicio Nacional de Capacitación y Empleo (SENCE), the SUE merges four prior hiring and employment subsidies into a single fiscal wage benefit for workers in priority groups.

Chilean employers hiring workers from the four priority groups can claim the SUE by applying through the Ventanilla Única Social, which routes to the SENCE portal, within three months of the hire. There is no single fixed compliance deadline: postulation opened on October 1, 2026 and runs on a rolling three-month window from each new hire, provided the worker had no employment relationship with the employer in the previous 12 months. Employers who do not apply forgo the subsidy; no penalty applies.

What changed with the Unified Employment Subsidy?

Law 21.808, published in the Diario Oficial on March 13, 2026, merges four earlier programmes, the Subsidio al Empleo, the Subsidio a la Contratación, Empleo Joven and the Mujer Trabajadora subsidy, into one SENCE-administered benefit. The SUE is permanent law, not a temporary measure. Minister of Labor Tomás Rau frames it alongside the Plan Chile Despega and the Subsidio a la Contratación, together reaching a combined CLP 1.3 trillion to generate more than 100,000 jobs.

Employers face a ceiling of 200 beneficiaries and a progressive payment schedule during the first months.

Who is covered, and who can claim?

The SUE targets four priority groups: young workers aged 18 to 24, women aged 25 to 54, workers aged 55 and over, and persons with disabilities registered in the Registro Nacional de la Discapacidad. To qualify, a worker must sit in the bottom 40% of the Registro Social de Hogares (RSH), earn a gross monthly wage of no more than 2.25 IMM, and have been unemployed for at least six continuous months or eight discontinuous months in the 18 months before applying. Persons with disabilities are exempt from the RSH and prior-unemployment conditions.

How and when do employers apply?

Either party to the employment relationship applies through the Ventanilla Única Social, which redirects to the SENCE portal. When the employer applies, the request covers the employer-worker pair; when the worker applies, it covers only the worker's own benefit. Employers must apply within three months of the start of the employment relationship, and only when there was no employment relationship with that worker during the previous 12 months. SENCE's schedule sets the first payments for November 30, 2026.

What happens if an employer does not apply?

The SUE is a fiscal wage contribution, not a mandatory contribution with a penalty regime. An employer that does not apply simply does not receive it: the only consequence is a foregone benefit worth up to 20% of an eligible worker's gross remuneration for 12 months, or 15 months for persons with disabilities and micro or small enterprises. Continuous, per-jurisdiction monitoring surfaces a programme go-live like this the moment it publishes, so payroll and HR teams can act inside the three-month window.

What to do next:

• Check whether your recent or planned hires fall into one of the four priority groups and meet the RSH, wage (up to 2.25 IMM) and prior-unemployment conditions.
• Track the three-month window from each eligible hire and confirm no employment relationship with that worker in the previous 12 months.
• Brief payroll and HR on the Ventanilla Única Social route to SENCE, and apply for the employer-worker pair.
• Note the November 30, 2026 first-payment date in your payroll calendar.