Despite the economic recovery, tough times in Argentina

reading this is spooky... i thought for a minute i was reading about the u.s. economy...

Despite the economic recovery of the past three years and the resultant drop in unemployment, the number of workers with precarious jobs remains high in this South American country [Argentina] of 37 million.

The National Institute of Statistics and Census reported earlier this year that 47.5 percent of workers are not covered by the social security system and have no labour benefits.

[...]

On Argentina's initiative, the theme of the fourth Summit of the Americas - to be held in November in the Argentine resort city of Mar del Plata - is ”Creating Jobs to Fight Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance”. One of the key issues on the agenda is the need to foment ”decent work”.

[...]

[Robert Castel, director of research at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, a renowned sociologist who wrote ”The Metamorphosis of Social Questions: A Chronicle of Wage Earners”, which analyses the phenomenon of mass unemployment and the growing precariousness of labour] uses the term ”supernumerary” to refer to unemployed workers who have no hope of finding anything more than precarious or temporary jobs, said the category does not only include young people, women or those with little formal education.

”Today there is a quite widespread process of increased vulnerability that cuts across social categories,” he said. ”Of course it hits the poor hardest, but it also affects those who appeared to be privileged in the past, like professionals and young people with higher levels of education.”

Nor is this increasing vulnerability only to be found in developing countries, he added. It is also seen in industrialised nations like France or Germany, except that in wealthy countries, the state has more abundant resources and is able to keep a minimal social safety net in place.

ok, let's not lose sight of a few things that are lurking in the background of this story... for one, bush's scheduled visit to the summit of the americas in november is being protested on a daily basis here in buenos aires... the argentines don't want "b-o-o-osh" in their country... also, don't forget... the "wealthy countries" that keep a "minimal social safety net in place" is a category that the u.s., under bushco's specious "leadership," is rapidly moving south of... one of bushco and the r's top priorities is the destruction of any form of social contract and they've already made quite a bit of progress... finally, i happen to know several of argentina's unemployed as well as those with "precarious jobs..." i have a lot of empathy in no small part due to the fact that, in the u.s. context, i'm in the very same boat... i'm 57, no safety net, no assets, living contract to contract... i'm making it - for now...

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