Approximately 75% of private companies and public agencies in Chile are failing to meet the minimum hiring quota for people with disabilities required by current regulations, according to reports from elmostrador.cl.
The Wazú Foundation has warned that the low compliance rate with Law No. 21,015 maintains significant gaps for this community. The organization estimates that if current trends continue, it will take the country up to 28 years to achieve full implementation of the law.
In effect since 2018, the regulation mandates that public institutions and companies with more than 100 employees reserve at least 1% of their positions for people with disabilities or those receiving disability pensions.
However, data from the Ministry of Social Development and Family from August 2025 shows that only 23.9% of private companies are meeting the quota. In the public sector, compliance stands at just 24.8%.
Employment gaps and lack of oversight
The labor landscape for this group is marked by critical inequalities. According to figures from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security from April 2026, only 40% of working-age people with disabilities are employed.
Furthermore, a mere 18% of the contracts associated with the law represent new job opportunities; the majority are simply the regularization of existing positions.
Peter Loch, Director of the Wazú Foundation, stated that “the right to work is not currently guaranteed for people with disabilities in Chile: it is conditional. It depends more on the will of companies than on the State's ability to enforce the law.”
The organization pointed out that the State possesses the technical tools necessary for oversight, such as cross-referencing data between the AFC (Unemployment Insurance Fund), the Labor Directorate, mutual insurance companies, and the Internal Revenue Service.
Non-compliance also carries a direct economic impact. The foundation estimates that fines resulting from these infractions could reach 181.46 billion pesos—funds that are not being redirected toward accessibility policies.
According to the CASEN survey, people with disabilities earn, on average, 20% less than the rest of the population and face higher costs related to healthcare and mobility.
“Exclusion is not just unjust; it is inefficient. Developing countries lose between 3 and 7 percentage points of their GDP by failing to fully integrate people with disabilities. This is not just a sectoral issue; it is a national problem,” Loch emphasized.
