Labour mobility in Argentina since the mid-1990s: the hard road back to formal employment

This paper analyses the magnitude and type of employment mobility found in Argentina from the mid-1990s onward using data from the Observatorio de Empleo y Dinámica Empresarial (Employment and Business Dynamics Observatory) of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of Argentina. The Observatory was developed using social security records of registered private-sector wage employment in the manufacturing, commerce and services sectors. Such employment, however, played a minor role (25%) in the employment structure of Argentina during the period studied. The main finding of this study was a significant level of labour mobility. This article shows that, during the period in question, which was characterized by macroeconomic instability and high dollar labour costs, the dominant labour mobility trend among registered workers was toward exclusion from the formal labour market (through unemployment, inactivity or employment in jobs not registered with the social security system).