ILO Country brief

COVID-19 and the labour market in Argentina: The challenge of fighting the pandemic and its socio-economic impact at a time of severe difficulty - Executive Summary

31 August 2020

The Argentinian employment outlook was already dire before the onset of the pandemic. The current COVID-19 crisis is going to further affect employment outlook via multiple channels, besides its health impacto, as it will affect private consumption, investment and trade. Furthermore, impacts will exacerbate the number of people entering into poverty and increase inequality. Some of the reasons are related to the fact that most affected occupational groups are those in operational or unskilled occupations. Furthermore, job losses disproportionately affect adults over 60 years and young people, as well as migrant workers. By firm size, the study indicates employment losses by those in self-employment, as well and small and medium enterprises, particularly non-registered wage workers. Overcoming these significant issues will be challenging, also compounded by the macroeconomic fragility of the country. The country has advanced on its debt renegotiations, and has enacted or strengthened measures that conform a comprehensive package for employment preservation and eventual rekindling, in line with the four pillars recommended by the ILO. However, the current fiscal space is limited with few chances of it to be expanded, indicating the need of strong monitoring of policy on roll-out, uptake and tracking impacts, as to enhance policy outcomes and either reorient expenditures or create fiscal space.

Factsheet

Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on loss of jobs and hours among domestic workers

15 June 2020

The ILO estimates that, in the early stages of the pandemic, on 15 March 2020, 49.3% of domestic workers were significantly impacted. This figure peaked at 73.7% on 15 May, before reducing to 72.3% on 4 June.

Factsheet

Beyond contagion or starvation: Giving domestic workers another way forward

05 May 2020

In the wake of COVID-19, governments around the world have called on people to take one most important action: to stay home. But for many workers, staying home has meant losing their jobs, or worse still, losing their livelihoods.

Domestic Work Policy Brief no. 10

Formalizing domestic work

23 June 2017

This document is part of a series of briefs on issues and approaches to promoting decent work for domestic workers.

Publication

Domestic work, wages, and gender equality: Lessons from developing countries

30 November 2015

GED Working Paper No. 5/2015 The paper seeks to contribute to a better understanding of developments regarding labour market participation and remuneration in the domestic work sector in comparison with other sectors. It looks at the basic characteristics of female domestic workers, gaps in minimum wage coverage, compliance, and the extent of minimum wage violations. Presenting empirical evidence on labour market inequality along gender lines, the paper discusses the role of minimum wages for reducing gender disparity, questions of regulatory design and enforcement issues.

Research Department Working Paper n°7

Domestic work, wages, and gender equality: Lessons from developing countries

25 November 2015