Argentina

Publications

Situation and Priorities

Social protection situation
Argentina has a relatively comprehensive social protection (SP) system, covering all branches through social insurance, social assistance (SA), and social services. However, Argentina’s delicate economic situation over the past decades has hindered progress, with fiscal constraints challenging the expansion of tax-financed SA. A lack of SP statistics has also presented challenges for monitoring and evaluation.

Argentina has a universal child grant and universal maternity protection, and has successfully integrated contributory and non-contributory components in line with ILO Social Protection Floors Recommendation, 2012 (No. 202). They have a Monotax system for independent workers to simplify tax collection, however, reforms are necessary to harmonize it and facilitate the transition to the regular tax system. Despite high coverage (89.3%), the pension system is characterized by fragmentation and inequality, while inflation and exchange rate uncertainty challenge its long-term sustainability.
COVID-19 and other crises
Argentina was able to respond quickly to the economic and social effects of COVID-19 thanks to the pre-existing infrastructure in place from their universal schemes. The Emergency family income cash transfer scheme (Ingreso Familiar de Emergencia) provided a one-off payment of 10,000 Argentine Pesos (US$155) in April 2020 to approximately 3.6 million families. An extra payment of 3,103 pesos (US$40) was made to beneficiaries of the Universal Child Grant and the Maternity Allowance.
Government and social partner priorities
  • Improve the long-term sustainability of the pension system.
  • Implement the National Early Childhood Strategy (ENPI), which aims to reduce the social and territorial gaps that impact the overall development of early childhood.
Through the Joint SDG Fund, the ILO, together with UNICEF, UNDP, and ECLAC, is supporting the implementation of the ENPI, focusing on reducing inequality gaps among 5.2 million children (0-6 years old), through enhancing the quality and access to care services and improving employment conditions in the care sector. The project timeline is March 2020 to December 2021.

News and Events

ILO Experts

IMG
Guillermo Montt
Specialist, Social Protection
Elva Lopez Mourelo
Officer, Inclusive Market Institutions