Argentina: measures extended to mitigate the negative effects of the pandemic and of lockdown restrictions on employment

After the extension to and readjustment of the salary subsidy arrangements (c.f. article No. 11960), the framework for reducing salaries by 25% for non-working staff has been renewed (c.f. article No. 11894), at the request of the originating trade union and employers' bodies. Alongside, the government is extending until December the decree stating double compensation for workers whose employment contracts are terminated. These decisions come amid an extension of lockdown conditions until at least 28 June. Although almost all of Argentina’s provinces have been able to partially relax lockdown restrictions, the capital Buenos Aires, and its greater region are still under the "cuarentena" (quarantine) that was put in place on 20 March. At the heart of the country’s economy and consumption the Buenos Aires region also accounts for a major part of the national industrial sector. It also accounts for 37 per cent of the population and many workers are still remaining ‘idle’