[Migrants from bordering countries in the labor force of the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, 1980-1996]. / Migrantes limitrofes en el mercado de trabajo del area metropolitana de Buenos Aires, 1980-1996.

PIP: Data from the 1991 Argentine census indicate that migrants from neighboring countries at that date were maintaining patterns of entry into the labor force of Buenos Aires consistent with past tendencies. Migrants tended to be employed in less skilled manufacturing industries, construction, commerce, and domestic work, often filling positions rejected by the native population because of low wages and poor working conditions. Profound changes in the Argentine economy since 1991 have included rising unemployment and underemployment and a loss of productive jobs in industry and construction. A comparison of the occupational structure of migrants from neighboring countries and of the total population for the years 1980, 1991, and 1996 demonstrates that important changes in sectorial employment have occurred among both the native and immigrant populations, with the immigrant population increasingly relegated to ever smaller sectors of the labor market offering less attractive employment. Nearly half of the 841,697 persons immigrating in 1991 from countries bordering Argentina settled in the Buenos Aires metropolitan region, comprising 42.8% of foreigners in the metropolitan area and 3.7% of the total regional population. Of the population from border countries residing in Buenos Aires, 43% are Paraguayan, 28% Uruguayan, 15% Bolivian, 12% Chilean, and 2% Brazilian. The unemployment rate in Buenos Aires fluctuated between 4% and 6% during 1974-92, but it rose to 10.6% in 1993 and then to 18% in 1996. The underemployment rate rose from 4.6% in 1983 to 8.2% in 1993 and 12.6% in 1996.^ieng