Argentina's National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) released a report Wednesday showing that unemployment fell to 6.2% of the labor force in the second quarter of 2023, an improvement from the 6.9% recorded between January and March.
Tens of thousands of Argentines demonstrated on Tuesday in a partial strike that grounded airplanes and shut banks and other businesses to protest the economic policies of President Mauricio Macri.
Argentina's unemployment rate fell to 7.6% in the fourth quarter of 2016, the government's Indec statistics agency said in a report on Thursday, down from 8.5% in the third quarter as thousands of people stopped looking for work.
Argentina had 9.3% unemployment in the second quarter of the year, the government's Indec statistics agency said in a report on Tuesday. It was the first official unemployment data to be published by Argentina since Mauricio Macri became president in December.
More than 50,000 workers blocked the centre of Comodoro Rivadavia, in Argentina's Patagonia main oil-producing region in a protest against layoffs. Striking oil workers were joined by teachers, truck drivers, builders and other sectors in the demonstration.
Unemployment and jobs are in the heart of public debate in Argentina. A public opinion poll released last week revealed that 48.3% of Argentines fear he/she or a relative might lose their jobs in the next six months.
Despite the Argentine government’s forecast of a much better economic scenario in the second half of the year, credit rating agency Moody’s disagrees, saying the economy is set to shrink by 1.5%, followed by a growing unemployment and an inflation rate well above 30%.
Argentina’s strongest unions brought thousands of people into the streets Friday to protest high inflation and job cuts in the biggest demonstrations against President Mauricio Macri since he took office in December. Demonstrators waving blue and white Argentine flags flooded the main avenues of Buenos Aires, blocking traffic in a protest that brought together rival unions that put aside differences to protest Macri’s policies.
Argentina's Indec stats office latest release shows that unemployment was stable in the first quarter, at 7.1% in the yearly comparison, but that is only because some of the jobless have stopped looking for work, as employment rates continued a declining trend which started in 2011.
Argentine Economy Minister Axel Kicillof has assured that the government of president Cristina Fernandez is not seeking international financing despite current economic problems, since it has foreign trade surpluses and all the foreign exchange needed to face debt maturities.