Chile's unemployment rate fell to 8.9% in the three months to November.

The jobless rate is well down on the 9.7% recorded for the period between August and October, although the onset of the southern hemisphere summer always boosts employment at this time of year in agriculture, fisheries and forestry.

Even so, the improvement was well ahead of expectations.

Few economists had foreseen a fall to below 9%, with the consensus predicting 9.4%

The news comes as the government gets a scheme under way to create jobs for about 150,000 people.