The Formalization of Informal/Precarious Labor in Contemporary ArgentinaInternational Sociology

Abstract: In this article we argue that the Argentinian state is legalizing or formalizing informal/precarious labor. In the actual context of employment crisis in Argentina, the state intervenes in the labor market through a legislation that promotes low wages and unstable and unprotected work. Paradoxically, these precarious conditions are associated with informal labor, where the established theory does not recognize the power of regulation of the state. The new labor legislation in contemporary Argentina challenges the established division between formal-regulated vs informal-unregulated labor, at the same time that it contradicts the neoliberal/anti-state intervention discourses.