Diamond Ashiagbor (ed.), Re-Imagining Labour Law for Development: Informal Work in the Global North and South, London, HART PUBLISHING, pp. 167-189., 2019
Since 1991, Argentinian legislators have prioritised formalisation, introducing a slew of laws se... more Since 1991, Argentinian legislators have prioritised formalisation, introducing a slew of laws seeking to formalise the situation of these workers. However, the rationale underpinning this process of formalisation changed during this period. Between 1991 and 2001, in accordance with the neoliberal policies that characterised the decade, formalisation and flexibility were considered part of the same equation. All the legislation enacted under the auspices of the Labour Reform initiated in Argentina in the 1990s promotes labour flexibility in classical ways: short-term contracts, part-time jobs, internships, and different kinds of subcontracting arrangements like 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. In line with the approach of the ILO, the main goal is to provide decent work to all workers.
While the reasons for formalisation are clearly different in the two periods, the way in which formalisation was conceived and implemented is quite similar. This chapter seeks to analyse – from a socio-historical perspective – the different regulatory responses to informality adopted in Argentina since the 1990s. 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, own-account workers and domestic workers. These experiments introduced some regulatory innovations and novel enforcement mechanisms.
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Papers by Lorena Poblete
While the reasons for formalisation are clearly different in the two periods, the way in which formalisation was conceived and implemented is quite similar. This chapter seeks to analyse – from a socio-historical perspective – the different regulatory responses to informality adopted in Argentina since the 1990s. 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, own-account workers and domestic workers. These experiments introduced some regulatory innovations and novel enforcement mechanisms.