Progressive governments and cooperativism: Employment policies in Argentina

Abstract

The objective of the article is to understand the employment policies implemented by progressive governments in Argentina between 2003 and 2015. Specifically, the subsidies aimed at promoting cooperativism between informal workers and the chronically unemployed. The main conclusion is that, once recognized the limits in the generation of genuine employment in the industry, governments during this progressive cycle promoted permanent post-wage strategies to generate income for workers rated as unemployable. There were three types of cooperatives financed and (or) created by the State: non-state, synthetic and amphibian. The cooperative model implemented during this period was a translation of collective undertakings self-managed by social movements during the application of neoliberal policies in the nineties and the beginning of this new century. The research methodology used was qualitative: interviews conducted in companies recovered by their workers, with references from social movements, and public officials.