According to a recent study, approximately 84.8 percent of individuals in the lowest income quintile, which represents the bottom 20 percent of earners, are engaged in insecure employment in Argentina. This indicates that roughly eight out of ten workers in this group are in precarious job situations. UBA’s study, utilizing official household survey data from the INDEC national statistics bureau, reveals that among the workforce, 40% are engaged in “informal jobs” – characterized as insecure employment, which lacks formal registration, social security contributions, or labor protections. The research indicates that informality exhibits significant variation across different sectors, demographics such as gender and age, educational attainment, geographical regions, company sizes, and income levels. UBA analyzes these factors in a detailed manner, addressing each one individually. The informality rate among employees was recorded at 36.3 percent, whereas it reached 63.4 percent for the self-employed and 28.7 percent for employers. The rates exhibited a marginal increase among women, standing at 44.4 percent compared to 42.5 percent for men, with a notable peak of 67.4 percent among the youth demographic. Workers lacking a secondary education experienced a disproportionate impact, reflected in an informality rate of 67.5 percent. In the regional context, San Juan Province exhibited a rate of 60.9 percent. In terms of sectoral impact, domestic work experienced a decline of 79.8 percent, while construction faced a reduction of 72.6 percent.
The findings underscore a significant trend observed by the Futuros Mejores organisation: a substantial proportion of individuals of working age who are living in poverty are, in fact, employed. Only 7.9 percent of working-age individuals living below the poverty line are unemployed, as highlighted by the organisation. Meanwhile, 59 percent are employed in sectors like construction, commerce, and industry, frequently earning insufficient wages to enhance their economic circumstances. Additionally, 18 percent are involved in unpaid care work. In a distinct report, Futuros Mejores contested what it characterized as enduring misconceptions regarding poverty and unemployment. The initial misconception pertains to the notion of insufficient effort: “Poor people work a higher average number of weekly hours than non-poor people (41.8 hours and 40.2 respectively),” stated Futuros Mejores. In both instances, “the majority are in paid employment (78 percent of those above the poverty line and 69 percent of those below it).” The primary distinction, according to the report, resides in the degree of job formality. “Poverty in Argentina today is, to a large extent, a direct consequence of labour precariousness,” stated Daniela Maciel. The most recent figures from INDEC indicate that the proportion of workers engaged in informal employment increased to 43 percent over the past year, rising from 42 percent. “In the year-on-year comparison, an increase of approximately one percentage point can be observed,” stated the report.
The researchers highlighted the limitations inherent in the measurement of poverty in Argentina, emphasizing that the country depends solely on income-based indicators. “While an increasing number of nations are adopting multi-dimensional poverty indicators, Argentina persists in assessing poverty solely through income,” the researchers explained. The study indicated that public policies – including initiatives like the Volver al Trabajo scheme, which was recently discontinued by President Javier Milei’s administration – have predominantly focused on monetary poverty, neglecting other critical factors such as access to healthcare, education, housing, and essential services. “This methodology tends to obscure structural inequalities that require differentiated approaches,” the UBA report stated. Lisandro Rodríguez Cometta, a sociologist and one of the authors of the study, stated that “over the past 30 years Argentina has reformulated its programmes for the working-age population at least ten times, without resolving the structural problem.”
The analysis further explored the repercussions for individuals involved in community work, who constituted a significant portion of those impacted by the discontinuation of Volver al Trabajo, with over 90 percent of beneficiaries participating in these activities. Although universal policies aimed at children have garnered increased backing, “social policies for people of working age are always the subject of social and media debate” and continue to be politically and publicly contentious, the report stated. It highlighted frameworks in more advanced economies that integrate income assistance with employment, training, and compensated caregiving roles. “The debate on social policy is misguided: before asking who should be required to do what, we need to understand who is living in poverty in Argentina and what they are doing,” stated Lucía Cirmi Obón. “The data are clear: the vast majority are already engaged in employment.” The economist, possessing a Master’s degree in Development, asserted that the notion that poverty results from insufficient effort or a lack of willingness to work “does not stand up to scrutiny.”