11 Comments

So with the poverty rate being pretty high, how do people get by?

And how many government jobs have actually been eliminated since Milei's start?

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The poverty rate has dropped significantly (from 56% to 37%) so people get by better relatively. Around 50,000 jobs have been eliminated so far

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50k is good! So what do the 50k of paper pushers do, when their jobs have been eliminated? Get unemployment? For how long? Is it generally enough to keep them going when prices have gone up?

And what then? Go on the dole, more or less permanently?

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Most of these do not get unemployment benefits because they were independent contractors, so basically they will need to shift to the private sector asap

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Is that realistic? Are there comparable jobs in the private sector?

Has Milei addressed their plight, or is it "sink or swim"?

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They will have to look for them, and probably switch sectors if needed. Having 60% work in the public sector wasn’t realistic, that’s why Argentina ended up the way it did haha. Sink and swim, not the government’s job to help them find work

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Don't mean to pester you endlessly. :-)

Been wondering about this for some time... and finally found someone who knows!

I don't think it is the govt job to provide jobs for people. But help with looking makes a big difference. In Czechoslovakia, there used to be a work agency (under communism) where you would go and tell them your qualifications and they'd tell you where there were openings all over the country. You might have to move, but you'd have work. (I have experienced the haphazard American system which is demoralizing). But when I lived in Moab Utah, there was an agency where all the jobs were pooled and it made applying and getting work a breeze. I think this was because this is a desert town in the middle of nowhere and it made sense to do things that way. Do Argentinians have that sort of help?

Many thanks for your patience.

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Definitely wasn't realistic.

Still for a lot of people this must be a personal catastrophe. In South Africa, it was said a lot of these people ended up in indigent camps... so I was wondering.

Normally it's not the govt's job to help with looking for jobs, but when the govt screws up this badly, shouldn't there be some responsibility? Just musing out loud, don't know myself.

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Do you think Milei will remove import taxes and tariffs on consumer goods? That would allow for prices to drop quite a bit, thus increasing real consumer purchasing power.

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He already dropped them completely for electronics under 400 (now only has VAT). But most of the consumer goods have a fixed tariff because of Argentina being a full Mercosur member (like Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay). Only way to get rid of those would be by leaving the Mercosur (think about imported cars etc)

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