President Javier Milei's government is once again sharpening the chainsaw, moving forward with a new wave of public-sector job cuts.
State-worker lay-offs are expected to accelerate following the reorganisation of the La Libertad Avanza administration that took place in the wake of Milei’s October 26 election win.
A Cabinet reshuffle, in part prompted by the exit of officials to legislative posts, included the promotion of presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni to the head of the Cabinet Chief’s Office after the departure of Guillermo Francos. The rejigged portfolio, which has assumed some of the departments previously overseen by Adorni, is among those targeted for job cuts.
This is a task that Milei’s Deregulation & State Transformation Minister Federico Sturzenegger has been working on. Following the expiry of special emergency powers delegated by the ‘Ley de Bases’ mega-reform law in the middle of the year, his cost-cutting portfolio has had vague objectives.
One of them is to negotiate the details of the much-proclaimed trade agreement with the United States, the details of which are still unknown and sworn to non-disclosure agreements, according to Argentina’s Ambassador in the United States, Alec Oxenford.
Since December 10. 2023, the date President Milei took office, there have been more than 58,000 lay-offs across Argentina’s public sector. Many of these were simply contract terminations, rather than firings.
According to official sources, it is estimated that the new cuts could mean a further 10 percent reduction in the number of public employees.
Decentralised agencies – such as the ARCA (ex-AFIP) tax bureau, ANMAT drug regulatory agency, CONICET scientific research council, INTA agricultural technology institute, INTI industrial technology institute, ENACOM communications regulator and several others.
Many of these agencies have already suffered cuts. The government was even forced (through court rulings) to reverse its decision to shutter INTA and INTI. It was also forced to reverse its decision regarding the Vialidad Nacional national highways agency.
In the case of ANMAT, the new drive to downsize the agency is striking. This is especially true in light of the devastation and deaths caused by the lack of control over contaminated batches of fentanyl, a case which is now under judicial investigation. This even caused some friction between Sturzenegger and Health Minister Mario Lugones, sources say.
In October of this year, the number of public employees in the country stood at 282,000. Milei's administration seeks to reduce this number by the first quarter of next year, when several government contracts expire, rendering staff redundant.
State public television and national radio services are also being targeted. Both fall under the purview of Adorni, whose department was dissolved with its functions transferred to the Cabinet Chief’s Office. According to information provided by the Congressional Budget Office (OPC), Radio Televisión Argentina (RTA) has 2,157 employees.
State media workers have suffered a brutal drop in their salaries in real terms and there have been many voluntary redundancies in the sector. However, the government did not manage to close state news agency Télam, it only transformed it into a publicity arm.
Part of the transformations that Adorni and Sturzenegger are undertaking have to do with the privatisation of public companies, the elimination of duplicate offices or departments, and also the abolition of vehicle registration records.
There are more cuts to come.
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