MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentines fairing worse off under Milei, study finds

Having a job does not mean getting out of poverty in Argentina

Studies published this week corroborate that Argentines are fairing worse off under President Javier Milei, with people sinking into poverty despite having formal jobs which showed in a dwindling consumption of red meat, among other items, in a country that used to top the world's lists.

At least 35% of employed people are poor, an investigation by the University of Buenos Aires' RA Center at the School of Economics detected through analyzing data provided by the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) regarding employment, activity, and income in the first quarter of 2024. The study found a 32.4% growth in unemployment between the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, which represented some 1,088,000 people out of work.

However, the worst part came when it realized that many of those who do have jobs are still poor. At the end of 2023, there were already 34.9% of employed people below the poverty line, which kept escalating due to the increase in the total basic food basket. The trend has been going on for years but took a sharp turn for the worse in the last semester, the analysis determined, as incomes fell 40% on average since 2017, but 14% alone over the past six months.

Argentina's current employment rate is similar to that at the end of the Covid-19 lockdowns (third quarter of 2021), but unemployment keeps growing instead of showing positive signs as the country's economic activity heads for downright recession. The group of the unemployed is made up of all those jobless people who are available for work and actively searching. Construction accounts for 42.7% of the jobs lost, followed by the productive sector with commerce, financial, and real estate services close behind.

A separate survey found that Argentina's red meat consumption, particularly that of asado (barbecue), was approaching historical lows with 45 kg of beef per capita projected for this year, when it used to average 73 kg according to the Rosario Stock Exchange.

Nevertheless, Argentina remains one of the countries with the highest per capita consumption, with an intake practically equal to that of Uruguay and widely surpassing the United States (38 kg), Australia (27 kg), and Chile (26 kg).

At present, this trend “is aggravated by the current recession that Argentina's economy is going through and that leads many consumers to turn to chicken and pork, as these are cheaper alternatives,” a Rosario Stock Exchange report noted. In this scenario, the total consumption of beef, poultry, and pork in Argentina could be around 105.7 kg. per inhabitant by 2024, which would represent a 9% drop from 2023 and the lowest consumption since 2011. Also for the first time on record, the average Argentine resident would consume in 2024 the same amount of beef as poultry meat (around 44.5 kg), it was also underlined.