INVESTIGADORES
POBLETE Lorena Silvina
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Tackling informality. Policies of formalization in Argentina
Autor/es:
POBLETE, LORENA
Lugar:
Viena
Reunión:
Congreso; International Labour Process Conference; 2019
Institución organizadora:
International Labour Process Conference - University of Vienna
Resumen:
Informality is a structural feature of the labour market in developing countries, particularly in Latin America. Historically, in Argentina, at least one third of working people were engaged in so-called informal activities. During the 1990s, the informality rate rose to 35 percent, climbing to 45 percent in 2002, after the 2001 economic crisis. Nowadays, as the result of various formalisation policies, the informality rate has decreased. Even thought, 34 percent of the working population can still be considered informal workers. Since 1990, Argentinian legislators have introduced many laws seeking to formalise the situation of these workers. Since then to now, formalisation has become an important issue for legislation. However, the rationale underpinning this process of formalisation changed during this period. Between 1990 and 2001, in accordance with the neoliberal policies developed, formalisation and flexibility are considered part of the same equation. All the legislation enacted under the auspices of the Labour Reform initiated in the 1990s promote labour flexibility in classical ways: short-term contracts, part time jobs, internships, and different kind of subcontracting arrangements -as the development of Temporary Employment Agencies or the promotion of self-employment. Since 2004, with the so-called ´counter´ Labour Reform, formalisation has been used as a way to expand social protection. While the motives justifying the process of formalisation seem clearly differentiated in the two periods, the way in which formalisation was conceived by labour law and implemented is less clear distinguished. This paper seeks to analyse, from a historical perspective, the different regulatory responses to informality adopted within Argentina since 1990. Analysing changes in labour law, social security norms, tax regulations, and congressional debates, this research assesses different experiments in formalising the situation of precarious workers such as wage-earners working in small businesses and own-account workers.