Buenos Aires, January 19 (NA) – Since November 2023, a few weeks before President Javier Milei took office, more than 270,000 jobs have been lost in Argentina, largely in the public sector, construction, or industry. Many of these newly unemployed people survive as they can by working in ride-hailing apps like Uber, Cabify, or Didi. Others with fewer options work for delivery services like Pedidos Ya, Rappi, or Mercado Libre. This is a trend that is deepening and is also characterized by being adopted by Venezuelans and Colombians who have come to Argentina fleeing the misery of their countries and in search of a better future for their families. Data from the Superintendence of Labor Risks (SRT) show that the labor risk system had 512,357 employers and 9,857,173 workers in November 2023. In October 2024, the system recorded 491,311 companies and 9,584,566 workers. The numbers clearly reflect that 272,607 people lost their jobs in different companies and industries. And that most of them are now monotributistas (simplified tax regime payers). There is growing evidence that the weight of the adjustment applied by Milei, the deepest in Argentine history, fell on the base of the middle economic sectors, mainly due to tariff hikes that left entire families indebted due to increases in gas, water, and other service prices. To this scenario has been added in recent months an increase in imports whose impact and depth are causing shock in various productive sectors. It is no longer just the arrival of 5,000 Chinese cars this week. The door-to-door purchases made on Shein and Temu are becoming increasingly large and led Mercado Libre representatives to send alerts to high-level officials. While this is happening, congratulations from the IMF are arriving for the government's decision to start accumulating reserves. Argentina was already the best for the IMF in the 90s under Carlos Menem, and that experience ended very badly. It will have to be seen if this time it will be different, and how many sectors will be able to survive a transformation that is leaving many people behind.
