Youth employment in Argentina (2004-2020): First effect of the pandemic

FAVATA, FEDERICO; LEONE, JULIÁN; LO CASCIO, JORGE

Revista del CESLA: International Latin American Studies Review

International Latin American Studies Review.

Año: 2022 p. 69 - 96

1641-4713

This article explores the early effects of the pandemic on youth employment and income. First, it considers changes and continuity in both the employment morphology and the actual evo-lution of hourly earnings during the pandemic peak in 2020 second quarter, and the third quarter rebound. Young workers continue to have the worst employability gradient (informality, temporary work, part-time work, low-skilled tasks) as well as a striking wage gap in the young-adult popula-tion. The COVID-19 lockdown halted almost all informal activities; thereby, the lower tail of the distribution, overwhelmingly represented by younger women and low-skilled workers, has been withdrawn from the labour force. Consequently, the average income of young people increases, while at the same time there is a notorious decline in their labour participation in the peak of the pandemic, with only one out of every four young people taking part in the labour market.