Since Javier Milei assumed the presidency of Argentina on December 10, 2023, more than 33,000 public employees have lost their jobs. According to official sources, most of these layoffs were due to the non-renewal of contracts, voluntary departures, and unfilled retirements.
The Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, has justified these decisions by arguing that the only sustainable way to reduce the tax burden is by cutting public spending. Between January and September of this year, a total of 33,291 jobs were lost in the public sector.
Of the lost jobs, 20,026 were in the public administration sector, 11,014 in state-owned companies, and 2,251 in the Police and the Army. The largest wave of layoffs occurred at the beginning of Milei's administration in January, with 7,607 jobs lost. In April, another 7,000 workers were affected by the non-renewal of contracts, voluntary retirements, and unfilled retirements.
According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec), by August around 28,500 state jobs had been eliminated, representing almost 10% of the workforce. The reduction affected National employees, not those of provinces and municipalities. Last August, the workforce was 309,849 employees. Milei has urged about 10,000 state officials to begin their retirement processes and announced that 40,000 employees with temporary contracts will have to take a competency exam to retain their positions.
These measures have sparked protests and strikes across the country against the cuts and demanding wage improvements. According to sources from the Ministry of Deregulation, the Government will continue to reduce public spending and staffing to fulfill the mandate of society expressed in last year's elections. The dismissed workers or those with non-renewed contracts will join those affected by the plans to privatize public companies, which foresee the elimination of nearly 100,000 jobs across more than 40 companies.
