Argentines struggle with austerity measures

DW (English)

Argentina is experiencing a severe economic crisis. President Javier Milei has slashed public employment to reduce debt. DW met one former civil servant affected by the cuts.

Transcript

00:00For the past 15 years, Gustavo Díaz went to work every morning

00:04at the Argentine Meteorological Service,

00:07first as a technician and then as an archivist.

00:11But then his department was hit hard by budget cuts and layoffs.

00:17Díaz is finding it hard to reinvent himself in the labor market

00:21at the age of 56,

00:24and said he's lost his sense of self-worth.

00:31I feel destroyed,

00:35because one takes a sense of belonging from a job.

00:40Dozens of employees were dismissed from the Meteorological Service

00:44without severance pay.

00:46In the midst of the climate crisis,

00:48their work was important, Díaz says.

00:52I collected information from all the weather stations,

00:56corrected weather books and did all the archiving,

00:59correcting the information helps a lot with statistics.

01:04The layoffs have come in the middle of a recession,

01:07with industrial output and construction both in a slump.

01:11The cuts have hit sectors ranging from social security,

01:14family services, agriculture and education,

01:18to industrial and labor policy.

01:22President Mele's chief economic advisor justifies the cuts

01:26as a measure to help the country reduce its considerable budget deficit,

01:30which Mele wants to bring down to zero.

01:33But the recession means less tax revenue,

01:36making that target harder to reach,

01:39even with significant cuts to the budget.

01:43The number of public employees of the national government is excessive,

01:47given the delicate fiscal situation of the state.

01:51In the last 20 years,

01:53the number of public employees of the national government has doubled.

01:57I don't see us making any cuts in essential areas,

02:00and the number of layoffs is too small to affect overall employment.

02:05Isidro Guadarruchi is a researcher

02:08at the Latin American Economic Research Foundation

02:11and a university professor.

02:13He says Argentina's proportion of public employees to total workers

02:17is not out of line.

02:19Out of 34 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,

02:24have a bigger public sector by population.

02:27We have a moderate number that suits the size and functions of the state we want.

02:32Compared to rich countries, we're in the middle of the table,

02:36or a little bit up from the middle.

02:38In Latin America, when you look at Colombia, Chile, Peru,

02:41Argentina is in the middle of the range.

02:44Compared even with Brazil or Uruguay, or with another case, we're not far off.

02:50The government's promise to cut deeper

02:52has many public employees worried if they will be the next to go.

Category

Transcript

Recommended