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From the time that Mauricio Macri took office as President of Argentina in 2015, there has been a sustained decline in social security (understood as a comprehensive system of social protection) with decreased levels of protection for the population in general. The period of Macri administration between December 2015 until now, has been named by experts as a period of “social insecurity” referring to the absent role of the State in guaranteeing the right to social security of every citizen[1].

This sharp decline is even more pressing in social sectors or collectives with a higher level of social vulnerability[2], such as: retired people and pensioners with minimum benefits; beneficiaries of non-contributory benefits; persons with disabilities; children entitled to the Universal Allocation per Child (AUH, by its Spanish acronym) for Social Protection, granted to households where its members work in the informal sector or are unemployed; pregnant women who are beneficiaries of the Maternity Benefit for Social Protection (AEPP, by its Spanish acronym): and transgender people and transvestites who have no access to minimum benefits in terms of health, at present, nor in the future  to pensions, retirement benefits and “historical reparation” of pensions[3].

This is the expected outcome of a neoliberal program marked by the unrestrained promotion of financial businesses over income-generating activities (except those that are strictly primary and/or extractive), thus leading to growing indebtedness, reinforced (in terms of public debt and conditionalities on sovereign policies) by the agreement signed with the IMF in 2018 for the largest loan in the history of this financial institution. In this context, there is a sharp increase of the cost of living, loss of purchasing power of income[4] and growing two-digit levels of unemployment, being higher for women, with dramatic consequences for the younger generation. This is reflected in the dimension of income poverty that reached 35.4% of the population in the first quarter of 2019 (INDEC, 2019).

The Argentine case hereby presented is an example of the impact of neoliberal policies on social protection systems and how IMF conditionalities operate in these processes.

Modification of the retirement mobility formula at the request of the IMF

The formula for retirement mobility (that determines the periodic increase of the monetary value of retirement income) was replaced by a new one approved by the national Congress in December 2017, while rallies against the pension reform were being repressed. This led to a decline in the purchasing power of pensions of around 19.1% in 2018 in relation to the official inflationary measurement. This decline has been reflected in the Subsystem of Family Allowances that provides cash transfers per child and covers formal workers, individual tax payers[5], workers from specific areas such as farming, private households, seasonal workers, workers from the informal sector and pension beneficiaries, because in all cases the equation of mobility benefits is the same.

At the same time, there was a reduction in tax revenues that finance the social security system, together with a subtle but sustained and permanent policy affecting the assets of the Sustainability Guarantee Fund (FGS, by its Spanish acronym)[6] through asset sales, investments with uncertain return or loans to the Treasury and other government entities. This seriously threatens the financial sustainability, in the long- and medium-term, of the only social security system that provides national coverage and, consequently, the future of retired persons and pensioners as well as the other benefits and/or programs related to the FGS.

Additionally, the stagnant real value of the minimum wage (equivalent to less than 50% of the average food basket) entails the depreciation of the economic coverage provided by the Subsystem of Unemployment Compensation for people who have lost their jobs.

By mid-2018 there was an attempt to reduce the number of benefits related to comprehensive protection for families, which is specifically protected by the constitutional system in force that supports the endorsed international human rights instruments. The intention was to eliminate the tiers favouring certain areas or regions of the country because of their recognised disadvantages in terms of income-generation and/or climate conditions. This measure, taken through administrative acts, was withdrawn after court decisions that overruled it and bills that legally disallowed it. 

Apart from the attempt to cut family allowances by differential zones, the Macri administration continued to push in that direction and moved to suspend benefits for vulnerable sectors, particularly persons with disabilities who have been constantly in the spotlight since mid-2016.[7]. Between 2017 and 2018 the government reduced more than 170,000 disability pensions and published a resolution that established a series of additional eligibility requirements for disability pensions, which go against basic human rights principles[8]. Fortunately, judicial decisions passed through the courts have stopped the attempts to stem the benefits of already granted disability pensions and these are currently are still in force.    

Impoverished and indebted:

The above list of socially regressive measures started in 2016 with the restriction and reduction of the percentage of older adults’ medicine cost covered by healthcare plans from the National Institute of Social Services for Retired Persons and Pensioners (PAMI, by its Spanish acronym). At the same time, the deregulation of the price of these supplies led to an increase of around 25% over the inflation rate after three and a half years of Macri administration. In this context of accelerated inflation, the cost of essential medicines for older people also increased more than 300%..

Another form of intervention, since July 2017, was the government’s extension of microcredit programs for basic expenses to those receiving non-contributory benefits. Those sectors currently receiving reduced income were able to access microcredit loans to be able to cover basic expenses such as food, health and the increase in utility tariffs. In the list of indebted people through this programme, you will find that most of them are women from sectors well known to need support.

Women as a possible adjustment variable

During the previous administration (2003-2015), a pension inclusion plan was promoted through which people who had not made enough contributions to their retirement plans were able to join the social security system. The program allowed them to receive a pension and to pay taxes through a “moratorium” system. Although this benefit was equally available for men and women, it was mostly women who joined it (86% of the total number). This was the direct consequence of an overrepresentation of women in informal employment as well as in unpaid domestic and care work, which means that few contributions had been made to their retirement plans (CELS et al., 2018). Although the measure was presented as a general one, it was popularly known as the “retirement plan for homemakers” acknowledging that the women’s collective has historically suffered labour market inequalities and a smaller participation in the formal sector of the economy.

Causing even more setbacks in social security, in 2016 the government promoted the inaccurately named “National Program of Historical Reparation for Retired People and Pensioners” which threatens the social security system. Through that program the above-mentioned pension moratorium was extended for three years, but only for women, incorporating at the same time new requirements in terms of asset verification and gradually restricting coverage. For those left out (men and women who did not meet the new requirements), a Universal Pension for Older Adults (PUAM, by its Spanish acronym) was implemented. This is a benefit that represents 80% of the minimum retirement income and requires the verification of social vulnerability, plus beneficiaries cannot be on a payroll and must also reside in the country. Amongst other limitations, it is not transferable in case of death. Additionally, for women, PUAM brought another harmful requirement: the age to be eligible for the benefit was increased by five years, from 60 to 65 which was inconsistent to the age required by the moratorium.

Consistent with these measures, by July 2019 the government announced the elimination of the “homemakers’ retirement.” However, as a result of the broad mobilisation of social sectors, particularly the feminist movement, the Macri administration was forced to extend the benefit until 2022.

Gender inequalities across the world of work and social security are reinforced by the absence of the State’s role in guaranteeing access to rights. The end of the pension moratorium would have prevented women’s access to pension benefits. However, the new extension of the moratorium system is taking place and at the same time its access is more constricted because of how the measure is designed in general, while at the same time also because of the inclusion of the new requirements in terms of the economic situation of those who request it.

This change in the quality of rights creates more segmentation between those included in the formal labour market and those who, like women, had career breaks. This represents a setback for women who had access to the moratorium between 2003 and 2016, when 1,796,439 women retired. The restriction of moratorium benefits is nothing but the patriarchal oppression suffered by women workers who dedicated most of their lives to housework and unpaid care work[9]. This further deepens social and gender inequalities, and makes Argentina non-compliant with the ILO Social Security Convention Nº 102, disregarding the recommendations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, by the impact of these economic policies on ESCRs in Argentina[10].

Finally, there is no doubt that we are witnessing a period of regression of the Argentine government in terms of social inclusion and protection policies, reflected in the depreciation of benefits in general, a decrease in funding and a retreat from the social security universalization trend, among other effects. This situation blatantly violates the standards reached through the commitment that the State undertook with the incorporation of international instruments to protect human rights and the constitutional rule as a mechanism for the reallocation of income.

[1] See: Miguel Fenández Pastor, Page 12, October 31, 2018.

[2] For example, and, as further explained in the following section, in December 2017, the formula to update the monetary value of the transfers received by this population was modified, entailing a loss of value in real terms. In 2018, while transfers increased 28.5%, the general price index increased 47.6%. Sources: ANSES; UNDAV (http://undav.edu.ar/general/recursos/adjuntos/22727.pdf).

[3]“Historical reparation” under the terms understood by the community of transgender people. The most recent precedent of that kind of measure can be seen in Argentina, at subnational level, in the province of Neuquén through a program that acknowledges that “there has been and there is a systematic violation of transgender people’s rights, and tries to compensate state neglect through a monthly financial contribution and access to healthcare.” See:

[4] As already mentioned, according to INDEC, headline inflation in 2018 was 47.6%.

[5] The Simplified Tax Regime for Small Contributors is a system that unifies and simplifies taxes for low-income independent workers. Tax and social security obligations are met through the payment of a single monthly installment: https://monotributo.afip.gob.ar/Public/Ayuda/Index.aspx             

[6]FGS is formed by a financial asset portfolio, shareholding in different companies and other assets, with the purpose of providing financial sustainability to the social security system in the long and medium-term, and the implementation of social security programs (housing loans, financial aid for students to support education completion, computer supplies for the education sector, support for income-generating projects from the private sector, support for energy and infrastructure projects from the public sector, etc.); it has lost an amount of around $31,041 million dollars between December 2015 and October 2018: https://www.pagina12.com.ar/147548-el-fgs-se-licua

[7] See: https://www.diariojudicial.com/public/documentos/000/083/466/000083466.pdf

[8] Data from the IDA presentation at the 64th. session of the UN ESCR Committee, in Geneva, 2018.

[9] CEPA (2019) “De Pobreza Cero a pobreza cien mil, análisis de la Pensión Universal de Adultos Mayores como reemplazo de la moratoria previsional para el acceso a la jubilación” (From Cero Poverty to Hundred Thousand Poverty, Analysis of the Universal Pension for Older Adults as a Replacement of the Pension Moratorium to Provide Access to Retirement Benefits.) March.

[10] In this sense, see the report presented by CELS, DAWN and other civil society organizations at the UN in 2018: https://www.cels.org.ar/web/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/informesDESC.pdf