MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

In 4 years Kirchner contracted 37.000 new employees

The Argentine government contracted 37.000 civil servants under the administration of president Nestor Kirchner, (2003/2007) which works out at an average of 35 new employees every day, according to reports from the Ministry of Economy published Monday in the Buenos Aires press.

Of the 302.795 roll left by the Nestor Kirchner administration, 89% or 272.119 have a full contract and make on average 2.610 Argentine pesos monthly equivalent to 810 US dollars. However over 18.000 new jobs have an average monthly salary of 6.000 pesos equivalent to 1.900 US dollars. According to the same reports when former president Kirchner took office in May 2003 the Argentine state had 266.160 civil servants and 14% more when he delivered the sash to his wife president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. As to the distribution of the new jobs, 89% work directly for government while 7% for government companies and other decentralized administrations. The ministry which contracted the most new employees is Labour, 5.673, followed by Economy, 4.682 and Social Development, 3.799. The new contracts cost the Argentine Treasury 5.87 billion US dollars in 2007 which represented a 30% increase over 2006. President Cristina Kirchner who last month succeeded her husband reported that unemployment in Argentina had dropped to 7.5% of the active population compared to 22% in 2001/02 when the Argentine economy melted and the country defaulted on its sovereign debt.