Income producers in Argentina

There are 2 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 1,443 times. The latest Post () was by Rice.

1st Official Post

    This weekend we were told by Argentine friends that only 30% of the people here are gainfully employed. This means that 70% are either younger than working age, retired, infirm, unpaid caregivers or parents, between jobs, working en negro, etc.


    Unemployment, defined as those actively seeking jobs but unable to find them, is now relatively low. But given the more complete picture that includes all the people who are not looking for work for various reasons, the unemployment numbers become almost meaningless.


    How can it be sustainable for 30% of a country to support the pensions / unemployment / welfare / other social systems, infrastructure, govt, healthcare, schools, etc. for 100% of the people?

    • Official Post

    Some months ago there was a similar discussion on Italian online media. Apparently the statistics of employment/unemployment are bound to pretty lax parameters. For example, in the European Union, employed means you work at least 15 hours per week (or something like that), regardless of the level of income you can get from that job, ie if it is enough to sustain yourself, which sort of defeats the purpose of the stats, I think.
    At least speaking for myself, I always read the ‘employed’ number as people who had it sorted (not necessarily faring well, but enough to get by), so I was disappointed when I found out it was not the case.


    This discussion stemmed from the various headlines of ‘unemployment rate decreases’, whereas the people couldn’t observe that change. It looks like twisting the meaning of ‘employed’ allowed to include in the definition more people.



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    You are right about the definitions and parameters being both indefinite and easily manipulated by politicians who want to boast of their magnificent achievements in defeating unemployment.


    Here in Argentina, does anyone have a handle on whether, indeed, the few are supporting the many?