'I want my children to have a good future' - Argentines seek jobs abroad to escape crisis

Record ID: 1428615

  • Title: 'I want my children to have a good future' - Argentines seek jobs abroad to escape crisis
  • Date: 26th August 2019
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (RECENT - AUGUST 20, 2019) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF ARGENTINA'S PRESIDENTIAL HOUSE
  • Embargoed: 9th September 2019 14:15
  • Keywords: economy President Mauricio Macri Argentina economic crisis elections abroad jobs Alberto Fernandez Chile Cristina Fernandez
  • Location: BUENOS AIRES & ROSARIO ARGENTINA / SANTIAGO, CHILE / WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • City: BUENOS AIRES & ROSARIO ARGENTINA / SANTIAGO, CHILE / WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA006ATUVQYV
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Argentine executives and graduates shocked by President Mauricio Macri's drubbing in elections this month have begun calling and emailing in droves in search of work in Brazil, Chile and Colombia, head hunters and visa advisers told Reuters.
    Executive search specialists say the resumes that have deluged their offices in those countries reached a peaked after Macri lost ground to a centre-left Peronist challenger in the Aug. 11 primary elections, causing the peso to plummet in value.
    Leftist Alberto Fernandez is now the front-runner ahead of an Oct. 27 general election and has said he will seek to renegotiate a $57 billion loan International Monetary Fund deal agreed by Macri amid growing fears of a default.
    Fernandez has former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner as his running mate, heralding a potential return to "Kirchnerismo", when Argentina had currency controls and other interventionist policies.
    By last weekend, the phrase "the only exit is Ezeiza", a reference to the country's main international airport, had begun trending on Twitter in Argentina.
    Chile, one of Latin America's most stable economies and a short flight from Argentina over the Andes Mountains, has absorbed successive waves of highly qualified Argentine migrants.
    Among recent arrivals is Agustina Bertuzzi, 29, a public relations graduate from northeastern Argentina who moved to Santiago, Chile, two months ago to work for Robert Walters, the British headhunting firm. Now she works to recruit other Argentines for jobs in Chile.
    Other Argentines are going even further afield.
    "I want my children to have a good future, and today I am not seeing it in Argentina," said Guillermo Galia, 38, who works in textiles marketing. When he was offered a job in Italy a few weeks ago, he said he jumped at the chance.
    Galia said he hoped to return to his home country eventually, but he would not rule out staying in Italy should the economic situation not improve under a Fernandez government.
    (Production: Miguel Lo Bianco, Esteban Medel, Horacio Soria)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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