Argentina Inflation: Impact on Care Work & Families
- Sweeping cuts to Argentina's social sector, initiated by President Javier Milei in late 2023, are having a devastating impact on the country's most vulnerable populations.
- Marina Joski, a health promoter and union leader, said her salary has shrunk, forcing her family to drastically reduce their meat consumption.
- Political scientist Verónica Gago, who teaches at four public universities, said her salary's purchasing power plummeted after Milei devalued the Argentine peso by over 50%.
Argentina grapples with the harsh realities of austerity, as Javier Milei’s measures fuel rising child poverty and job losses. Healthcare access declines, and wages shrink—impacting families and the care work sector. Primary_keyword, inflation, exacerbates existing economic strain, forcing tough choices and triggering public outcry. The secondary_keyword, IMF loan conditions, further complicates the situation, raising questions about long-term economic stability. News Directory 3 investigates the unfolding crisis impacting the most vulnerable. Discover what’s next for Argentina amid these challenging times.
argentina’s Austerity Measures Fuel Rising Poverty, Job losses
Updated May 30, 2025
Sweeping cuts to Argentina’s social sector, initiated by President Javier Milei in late 2023, are having a devastating impact on the country’s most vulnerable populations. Child poverty is on the rise, jobs and wages are disappearing, and access to healthcare is dwindling, according to reports and experts on the ground.
Marina Joski, a health promoter and union leader, said her salary has shrunk, forcing her family to drastically reduce their meat consumption. To cope,she has taken on three additional jobs,while also managing an increased workload in her primary role due to the government’s cuts to medicine subsidies and public healthcare programs.
Political scientist Verónica Gago, who teaches at four public universities, said her salary’s purchasing power plummeted after Milei devalued the Argentine peso by over 50%. She noted the stark contrast between European-level food prices and declining incomes.
community kitchens, already struggling to stay afloat, face further hardship after the government halted food distribution to them. Some have resorted to desperate measures, such as selling ice cubes or serving meals of paprika in hot water.
The situation is compounded by cuts to pension exemptions, disproportionately affecting informal workers and women who took career breaks for childrearing. these changes have left many without retirement security.
Joski said the lack of medication and proper nutrition is leading to a rise in strokes, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Mental health services, crucial for those struggling with the increased hardships, have also been defunded, she added, contributing to a rise in substance abuse and suicides in poor neighborhoods.
Some of these austerity measures are aimed at securing a $20 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), approved in April. Past IMF-driven austerity in Argentina has been unpopular. Despite this, the IMF expects Argentina to maintain its current relationship, with Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva expressing hope that the country will not “derail the will for change” ahead of upcoming elections.
The IMF staff report praises Argentina’s efforts to stabilize and grow the economy, projecting a significant decrease in public debt as a percentage of GDP. However, as of January, Argentina owed $40.6 billion to the IMF alone, with a significant portion of the 2025 budget allocated to paying off this debt.
While decisive action was needed to address Argentina’s inflation, Gago questions whether the current government’s actions will ultimately succeed, especially if the country remains dependent on external debt and fails to address structural issues like rising housing prices. She argues that the real estate sector has benefited from deregulation, leading to a “dual economy” characterized by increasing polarization between the wealthy and the poor, with wealth being transferred from workers to large corporations.
“Every day we lose rights, and there’s less and less budget to implement public policy,” de la Vega warns.
What’s next
As Argentina navigates these challenging economic times, the focus will be on whether the government’s austerity measures can stabilize the economy without further exacerbating poverty and inequality. The upcoming review of the IMF loan in June will be a critical moment, as will the October elections, which could potentially shift the country’s economic direction.