The confirmation of a 24-hour general strike for next Thursday, February 19, generated immediate concern in various productive sectors.The force measure coincided with the treatment of the labor reform in the Chamber of Deputies, a project that promoted changes in the compensation system and the creation of the Labor Assistance Fund.In this context, the statistical data and technical reports made it possible to anticipate the volume of economic losses that Argentina faced during days of total or partial inactivity.
The analysis of the economic impact of these measures was based on a methodology that discriminated the behavior of each sector individually.The UADE Institute of Economics pointed out that the cost of a strike did not result from a simple division of the annual Gross Domestic Product by the number of days on the calendar.On the contrary, the final figure depended on variables such as the recoverability of production and, fundamentally, the adhesion of the transport unions.
During%20the%20to%C3%B1or%20last,%20the%20stop%20of%2010%20of%20April%20of%202025%20served%C3%B3%20as%20a%20direct%20background%20to%20understand%20these%20variations.%20In%20that%20opportunity,the%20norml%20operation%20of%20service%20of%20collective%20buffer%C3%B3%20la%20ca%C3%ADda%20of%20activityd.%20The%20cost%20economic%C3%B3mic%20se%20location%C3%B3%20in%20USD%20194%20million,%20what%20represents%C3%B3barely%20a%206.4%%20of%20GDP%20daily.%20However,%20the%20models%20t%C3%A9cynics%20warnedthat,%20if%20the%20transport%20didn’t%20work,%20that%20same%20day%20will have%C3%ADa%20cost%20USD%20539million.%20This%20difference%20from%20almost%20the%20triple%20from%20money%20underline%C3%B3%20the%20importance%20of%20mobility%20of%20%20workers%20for%20the%20sustaining%20of%20commerce%20and%20industry.
Mart%C3%ADn%20%C3%81lvarez,%20coordinator%20del%20Instituto%20de%20Econom%C3%ADa%20de%20la%20UADE,%20explained%C3%B3%20withprecision%C3%B3n%20this%20din%C3%A1mica%20structural.%20About%20the%20values%20habitual%20of%20these protests,%20the%20economist%20stated%C3%B3:%20%E2%80%9CWe%20always%20calculateos,%20m%C3%A1s%20or%20less,%20than%20unemployment%20general%20as%C3%AD%20anda%20in%20five hundred%20million%20of%20d%C3%B3lars,%20between%20five hundred%20andsix hundred%20million%E2%80%9D.%20This%20estimation%C3%B3n%20match%C3%B3%20with%20the%20records%20hist%C3%B3rich%20ofother%20massive%20stoppages,%20like%20the%20oduration%20on%209%20of%20may%20of%202024,%20when%20activity%20total%20le%20cost%C3%B3%20al%20pa%C3%ADs%20USD%20544%20million,%20reaching%20a%20peak%20of24.3%%20of%20GDP%20of%20ese%20d%C3%ADa.
The determining factor for next Thursday resided in the presence of the buses on the streets: and the transport unions have already announced that they will join.Álvarez highlighted this point by pointing out: “The problem is when there are or when there are no buses. From what I was seeing, there are not going to be buses, so it will be between five hundred and six hundred million. It is more or less what we always calculate, of loss of activity in each strike.”This forecast placed the force measure in the highest range of economic impact, because the lack of transportation prevented non-unionized sector employees from reaching their jobs.
The manufacturing industry and construction appeared as the sectors that explained most of the negative balance.These items lost production that was difficult to resume without incurring additional logistics or energy costs.Retail trade also suffered direct consequences, although its ability to retaliate was greater than that of other services.Álvarez highlighted that the scenario changed drastically depending on mobility: “It changes a lot when there are buses, which there, more or less, goes down to two hundred million dollars, because people go out to work the same way.”
Another%20essential%20component%20of%20an%C3%A1lysis%20was%20the%20concept%20of%20recoverability.%20Esteindicator%20midi%C3%B3%20what%C3%A9%20percentage%20of%20lo%20lost%20were%20able to%20rescue%20in%20los%20d%C3%ADassubsequent.%20In%20el%20unemployment%20of%20may%20of%202024,%20la%20econom%C3%ADa%20only%20recuper%C3%B3%20%2020,1%%20of%20lost,%20lo%20that%20marc%C3%B3%20a%20impact%20deep%20and%20lastingo.%20In%20change,%20for%20the%20stoppageof%20a%C3%B1or%20last%20in%20April,%20the%20projections%20of%20recovery%C3%B3n%20were%20m%C3%A1s%20optimistic, placing%C3%A1r%20by%20above%20of%2060%.%20The%20services%20of%20hotels%20and%20restaurants%20always showed%20a%20recovery%C3%B3n%20of%200%,%20since%20%20consumption%20was%20not%20realized%20at%20the%20moment%20was%20%20definitively lost%20.
Public administration, education and health services were also part of the direct loss picture.Every hour of inactivity in these sectors added pressure to a final number that affected competitiveness and tax collection.The strike on Thursday, February 19, emerged as a high-impact event, where the absence of transportation guaranteed, according to UADE metrics, that the Argentine economy lost a figure close to six hundred million dollars in just twenty-four hours.The record of previous strikes, such as those of Mauricio Macri in 2018 and 2019, maintained similar levels of impact, confirming a constant cost structure in the face of the paralysis of public transport.
