Milei denies Argentines can’t make ends meet and unemployment is soaring

President Javier Milei, who had not made a public appearance for nearly ten days, delivered a speech at the 26th Council of the Americas. He dismissed criticisms of his administration, including rising unemployment and falling wages. Milei claimed that economic data contradicted these claims, stating that "the kind of stupid things people repeat every day" were being repeated.

While unemployment stood at 7.8% in the first quarter of the year, it was only 0.3 percentage points higher than the previous quarter and 2.1 percentage points below the level when Milei took office in December 2023. Informality in the economy also increased by 2.2% annually. Milei attributed the lower salaries for public employees to paying less taxes, and argued that the closure of one-employee companies was offset by the opening of bigger ones.

He reiterated his commitment to lowering inflation and economic growth, claiming that inflation had dropped by 85%. However, critics noted that retail inflation was still at 2.1% in July, and the president had promised it would drop to 0. Milei also blamed legal abortion for Argentina's falling birth rate, despite the trend dating back to 2014.