Argentina approved a voluntary exit program for national employees, allowing eligible workers to seek compensation as President Javier Milei’s government continues to cut public spending.
Deregulation and State Transformation Minister Federico Sturzenegger estimated that about 20,000 workers meet the criteria. The figure refers to potential applicants, not a target for departures or a count of approved exits. The decree was published Oct. 19.
The program covers permanent employees and workers with indefinite contracts in the central national administration. The decree directs covered jurisdictions to eliminate a position only after an approved participant’s employment ends. Authorities can reject applications.
Compensation depends on a worker’s age, length of service, retirement eligibility and contribution status. The equivalent of 25 gross monthly salaries is the maximum for a qualifying group, rather than a payment available to everyone. Compensation is charged to the budgets of covered jurisdictions. Participants generally cannot return to national public-sector employment for eight years, although university teaching is exempt.
The Ministry of Deregulation and State Transformation reported 77,515 fewer national public-sector positions in August than in December 2023, when Milei took office. That represents a 15.4% decline in the workforce measured by the ministry. The August figures are provisional.
The administration has presented lower public spending as a way to make room for tax cuts. The Asociación Trabajadores del Estado (ATE), a state-workers’ union, opposes the program. Its general secretary, Rodolfo Aguiar, has argued that pressure on employees undermines the offer’s voluntary nature. ATE says workers and public services would bear costs and points to the 1990s as a precedent; those are the union’s claims.
ATE announced a demonstration at the presidential residence in Olivos on Oct. 21. Applications are scheduled to run from Nov. 1 through Nov. 30, with the decree allowing a single extension of up to 30 days.
