107,000 jobs lost in Macri's first 100 days in office in Argentina.

Last edited Sat Mar 19, 2016, 03:43 PM - Edit history (1)

Argentina lost 107,000 jobs between the public and private sectors in the first two months of 2016, according to a report published March 8 by the Mexico City based consulting firm Economic and Financial Trends. March 18 marked 100 days since the right-wing administration of President Mauricio Macri took office.

The report noted that amid a general increase in labor unrest, dismissals, and suspensions, there were 41,900 layoffs in January - half of which were in the public sector and half in the private sector. The firm's chief economist, José Luis Blanco, noted that "the trend is alarming in that in February the number rose to 65,800 layoffs, and the vast majority (55,200) were in the private sector."

"It's a very high number, a record that exceeds 70 times the layoffs registered at the same time last year," he said.

The National Secretary of Labor, Alejandro Sabor, denied that 107,000 jobs have been lost - but gave no official figures. "This new government does a lot to avoid unemployment," he said.

The sudden and sharp deterioration in the Argentine labor market, which as recently as November 2015 recorded the lowest unemployment rate (5.9%) since 1987, was first brought to the fore earlier this year by public sector unions denouncing the dismissal of 25,000 public employees in January alone.

The Macri administration justified the layoffs of public employees by claiming that they were mostly people who supported his predecessor, former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, or were hired merely to collect a salary.

Blanco agreed that "in recent years the State helped contain unemployment with massive hiring;" but pointed out that most layoffs since January have been in the private sector. According to Economic Trends, the sector hardest hit with layoffs and suspensions is construction, followed by the metallurgical, oil, retail, gastronomy, and textile sectors.

Labor rights advocacy organizations meanwhile have filed numerous complaints of wrongful dismissal on behalf of thousands of employees in several national government ministries.

Using allegations of inflation data manipulation, President Macri ordered the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) to stop reporting most socioeconomic data - including employment and unemployment figures - just days after taking office.

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It's worth noting that 107,000 jobs lost in just two months for a nation of 43 million is equivalent to over 800,000 jobs in the U.S.

The last time that happened in the U.S., we were in the dying days of the Bush regime.