“A growing industry has a lot to contribute to solving the major problems that Argentina has through increased registered employment, better salaries, more value added, more exports, more tax collection and less macroeconomic volatility”, the document emphasized. And he warned that “Focusing only on the growth of a few sectors associated with extractive activity, ignoring the national industry, will not allow us to develop.”
Without underestimating the importance of the sectors pointed out by Milei, the note from the textile companies indicated that in the last four years the manufacturing industry created registered employment at the same rate as the growth of its activity. “Each percentage point of increase in product generated one percentage point of growth in private employment”he pointed.
In this regard, Pro Tejer pointed out that the extraction of minerals, gas and oil (mines and quarries) presented a minor increase “If we compare 2023 with 2019: 0.7 percentage points of job creation for each percentage point of product growth.”
Regarding agriculture and forestry, the textile entity analyzed that “at least in the last 15 years, there is no positive correlation between employment and level of activity. Unlike the other activities, This sector lost almost 20 thousand jobs if we compare 20221 with 2019 (-7%).”
Along these lines, Pro Tejer recalled that the manufacturing industry directly and registered employs more than 1.2 million people and indirectly employs 3 million more people, while the sectors chosen by Milei reach 421 thousand registered workers. “Only the textile, clothing and footwear industry exceeds all registered jobs in mining, gas and oil extraction, including refining.he pointed.
“This shows that the manufacturing industry and the textile, clothing and footwear industry, in particular, are indispensable and irreplaceable”said Pro Tejer.
In that sense, the manufacturing entity forcefully remarked that “although it may seem obvious to many, Remembering it is not in vain considering that there were no signs or words from the new Governmentwhich identifies industrial activity playing a central role in the new economic plan.”
In this regard, Pro Tejer warned that the current INDEC data indicates “the complex economic situation that the industry as a whole is going through: in March 2024, Industrial activity contracted -21.2% year-on-year, with widespread falls in production in all industrial sectors. This drop represents the lowest production level in the last 9 years (with the exception of March and April 2020 in the midst of the pandemic). In the case of the textile and clothing and footwear industry, the annual contraction was -25.1% and -21.3%, respectively. The macroeconomic context of growing exchange rate appreciation makes industrial recovery even more difficult, considering that domestic consumption is depressed and the erosion of exchange competitiveness affects a possible export outlet.
Finally, the Pro Tejer Foundation states that the national industry must be included in a chapter of the Base Law “incorporating an Investment Regime for the SME sector and for national value chains, which incorporates the development of local suppliers and the strengthening of the National Institutes of Science and Technology such as INTI. As well as incorporate Industrial Development – inclusive and federal – as a central measure of the May Pact, given that it is key to removing Argentina from its economic stagnation.
