Argentina's Subsidized Employment Program Expands Beyond Cordoba

The Subsidized Employment Program (Programa de Empleo Subsidiado) – an initiative supporting families' socioeconomic development through job assistance – was introduced in the Argentine city of Cordoba in January of this year and is now expanding its scope to regions in the interior of Argentina. The program was implemented in Tucuman in March 2004 and will soon be offered in Rosario (Santa Fe province) and La Plata (Buenos Aires province).

The project, known as PES, is a joint undertaking of the local Argentina office of the JDC and the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA). The Tzedaká Foundation and, in this case, various institutions from the interior of the country, are also program collaborators.

The Subsidized Employment Program provides companies the possibility of hiring staff from a database of beneficiaries of the JDC's Social Assistance Network – a resource that was deployed throughout Argentina as a result of the economic crisis, and which operates in conjunction with local Jewish institutions. When companies hire individuals from the network, 30% of the employee's net salary is subsidized during the first year of work; and the company does not absorb any cost related to a staff search or the selection process.

Beneficiaries of PES are accompanied throughout the process of re-entrance into the workforce. Training and guidance workshops provide them with information on the conditions of the labor market, non-traditional job search methods, as well as recommendations for submitting a C.V. and dealing with job interviews.

Through PES, qualified workers can earn a dignified job, a genuine income and, ultimately, the opportunity to recover socioeconomic stability. Many people who have lost their jobs and savings in Argentina's crisis are now able to survive thanks to this assistance program. They recover their capacity to take on projects of their own and share them with their families, and as a result are once more able to feel like dynamic, productive members of their communities.

Like so many regions in Argentina, Cordoba is confronting a serious lack of job opportunities as a result of the national economic recession (official figures indicate a 17% unemployment rate, including people who are subsidized by national social assistance programs). Accordingly, job recovery – in particular for people who rely on social assistance – is essential.

It is calculated that more than 230 individuals in Cordoba will benefit from the Subsidized Employment Program. More than 150 people are already included in the program's database and are able to participate in all the employment searches in general, as well as searches exclusively involving the PES.

The aim of the PES is to have more than 7,000 beneficiaries, of which 80% has already joined the program. In the province of Cordoba, the population registered represents 5% of the people covered by the Employment Service throughout the country.