Poverty in Argentina climbed to 38.8% and unemployment topped 20% due to the pandemic, according to ECLAC

According to a report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), dependent on the United Nations, poverty in Argentina rose to 38.8% in 2020 and unemployment to 20.9% due to the impact of the pandemic on the economy.

The crisis derived from the coronavirus pandemic in Latin America will mean a decline of 12 years in terms of poverty and 20 years in terms of extreme poverty, according to ECLAC. The region closed the year with a total of 209 million people living in poverty, 22 million more than the previous year, according to the report presented by the executive secretary of Cepal, Alicia Barcena.

The report notes that while social projection measures have prevented a further increase in poverty, the economic and social consequences of the health contingency will be significant among the countries of the region most affected by the virus, with 27.8% of deaths recorded by Covid-19 worldwide.

Among the countries with the highest poverty rates after the impact of the coronavirus were Honduras (58.6%), Guatemala (51.6%), Nicaragua (50.7%), Mexico (50, 6%), Bolivia (39%), Argentina (38.8%)

Since 2014, continued growth in poverty – and also extreme poverty – has been observed in the region, with high levels in the rural, indigenous and Afro-descendant sectors, in addition to a continued decline in Gini inequality index, high levels of informality and high levels of gender inequality.

Between 2014 and 2019, before the pandemic, poverty in Latin America has already fallen from 162 million people to 187 million, while in the case of extreme poverty, the increase rose from 46 to 47 million people.

In particular, referring to Argentina, the ECLAC report stated: “The outbreak of the pandemic has placed Argentina in a particularly vulnerable economic situation, in the midst of a macroeconomic crisis already recessive for two years, with a decline in formal employment and an increase in informality, as well as a decline in household income, in a context of inflation close to 50% per year, ”he explained.

The region closed the year with a total of 209 million people living in poverty, 22 million more than the previous year.

In this sense, ECLAC has highlighted a measure such as the Emergency family income (IFE) to overcome the pandemic: << The importance of the resources devoted to this policy, its scale in terms of population covered and the novelty of being able to include in a short time large groups of workers excluded from the State registers and which even, to a large extent, they were not banked, they deserve a detailed analysis ”, postulated the organ of the United Nations.

“The design and rapid implementation of this program has enabled a transfer, in addition to the 3.3 million people already registered, to nearly 5.5 million people in informal work or unemployed that the state would not have been able to reach otherwise so as not to have them in their files at the time of the outbreak of the pandemic, ”concluded ECLAC.

ECLAC indicators

According to the agency’s report, extreme poverty fell from 11.3% in 2019 to 12.5% ​​last year, while poverty fell from 30.5% to 33.7%. He says that of the 78 million people who survive in extreme poverty, some eight million joined in 2020.

The study added that without direct income transfers to some 84 million households, extreme poverty would have increased to 15.8% and poverty to 37.2% of the 654 million Latin Americans.

“The pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated the great structural deficiencies in the region and, at present, there is a moment of great uncertainty in which neither the form nor the speed of exit from the crisis has yet been determined. defined, “said Bárcena. He added that “there is no doubt that the costs of inequalities have become unsustainable and that it is necessary to rebuild with equality and sustainability, in order to create a true welfare state, a task long overdue in the region ”.

Among the countries with the highest poverty rates after the impact of the coronavirus were Honduras (58.6%), Guatemala (51.6%), Nicaragua (50.7%), Mexico (50.6%), Bolivia (39%), Argentina (38.8%), Colombia (38.7%), The Savior (38%) and Ecuador (33.6%). At the other extreme, the countries with the lowest rates were Uruguay (5.3%), Chile (14.7%), Costa Rica (21%), Panama (21.2%) and Paraguay (21.5%).

For its part, unemployment reached 10.7% in 2020, an increase of 2.6 percentage points compared to the value recorded in 2019, with a significant departure of the workforce and a low possibility of teleworking, since only 21.3% of the people employed in the region were able to perform remote work.

The countries with the highest unemployment rates recorded throughout the year were Argentina (20.9%), Colombia (21.8%), Costa Rica (20.1%) and Peru (39.5%), according to the report released today, which also indicates that the highest unemployment rate was observed among the poorest households. “The big losers, as always, are the poor,” said Bárcena, who said “the great loss the region has experienced in terms of work is informal work”.

The crisis derived from the coronavirus pandemic in Latin America will mean a decline of 12 years in terms of poverty and 20 years in terms of extreme poverty, according to ECLAC.

In this sense, he indicated that of the total number of jobs lost in Brazil, Costa Rica Yes Mexico, 76.8%, 72.5% and 72.6%, respectively, were informal, which increased the vulnerability of households in 2020. ECLAC estimates that 491 million Latin Americans (8 out of 10) are vulnerability, because they live with an income below the poverty line.

To make up for lost household income, in 2020, governments implemented 263 emergency social protection measures and injected $ 86 billion between March and December in the form of cash and in-kind transfers. However, Bárcena warned that the region will not achieve collective immunity in 2021, due to the “strong international hoarding” of access to vaccines, as well as other logistical restrictions that could negatively affect vaccination campaigns.

KEEP READING