MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentine unemployment in first Q: 13%

Argentina's unemployment index for the first quarter of 2005 reached 13%, which represents an increase over the 12,1% of the last quarter of 2004 but a considerable drop from the same period a year ago with 14,4%, according to the latest release from the Statistics Institute, Indec.

This means that approximately 1.960.000 people in urban areas are out of a job of which 1.369.000 in Argentina's main 28 cities. Another 1.910.000 equivalent to 12,7% of those with jobs are in the category of under-employed. Adding up 3.870.000 Argentines have labour insertion problems.

Furthermore the number of unemployed jumps to 2.250.000 if the beneficiaries of the head of family programs who declare are looking for a jobs are included. Another 250.000 must be added who declared they would not look for jobs if they are left out of the subsidies they are collecting currently.

Compared to the last quarter of 2004, the number of unemployed increased 110,000, which the government attributes to seasonal factors. Similarly the activity rate of those with jobs or looking for jobs dropped from 45,9% to 45,2% between the two quarters under consideration. But compared to the first quarter of 2004, the number of unemployed fell 200,000 and the number with jobs increased 300,000.

The employment rate in the first quarter of this year was 39,4%, a slight drop from the 40,4% of the last quarter of 2004, but higher than a year ago, 38,9%. The active urban Argentine population is 15.090.000 and those currently employed 13.150.000

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner anticipated that the unemployment will again drop in the coming months and revealed that preliminary data shows March unemployment at 12,3% and below 12% in April.

The Argentine Labour Ministry argues that the first quarter rise in unemployment can be traced to holidays recess; technical maintenance in factories and the consumption contraction following Christmas and New Year's sales boom.

"These factors have a direct impact in informal jobs, since stable jobs are less likely to be affected by temporary stoppages", said Labour Department analyst Diego Schleser.

The Indec report also shows that during the second half of 2004 the number of Argentines who managed to leave the condition of poor totalled 2,7 million compared to the same period in 2003.

The recovery of the economy, higher employment and incomes helped to improve the overall social situation of Argentina.