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16 December, 2025Manufacturing in Argentina continues to be severely affected by the economic crisis generated by Javier Milei’s government. Falling sales and increased imports have led to heavy job losses in the country. Recent weeks have seen the trend continue, with several manufacturing plants announcing large-scale redundancies due to closures or production downsizing.
The manufacturing sector is one of the hardest hit, according to data from the Argentine Political Economy Centre (CEPA). According to IndustriALL affiliate UOM, Whirlpool closed its plant in Pilar a few weeks ago, laying off 220 workers, while in Santa Fe, a motorbike factory has dismissed 150 employees in the last few months. In addition to these direct job losses, the downturn in the metal sector as a whole is affecting the entire supply chain, including domestic suppliers in various sectors and sub-sectors such as auto parts or agricultural machinery and equipment.
The textile sector is also facing difficulties due to the opening of imports, working at only 37 per cent of its installed capacity. According to data from the Pro Tejer Foundation, 333 companies have shut between December 2023 and August 2025, resulting in the loss of 14,000 jobs.
The INDEC – National Institute of Statistics and Census – report for October also reveals significant falls in a variety of industrial sectors, such as clothing, leather and footwear (15.1 per cent), textile products (24 per cent), rubber and plastic products (12 per cent), metal products (8.1 per cent), etc. This month-on-month decline is also reflected in a year-on-year fall of 2.9 per cent , when compared to the same month in 2024, a year in which there had already been a sharp drop compared to November 2023, the last month before the current government took office.
According to a recent report in the Spanish daily El País, an average of 28 companies are closing down every day in Argentina.
IndustriALL’s deputy regional secretary, Cristian Alejandro Valerio, says:
“The government is repeating neoliberal recipes that have already failed in Argentina and have done nothing but damage the country’s industrial fabric, further increase its foreign debt and generate deep economic and financial crises. According to the president himself, the government’s plan is to focus on three sectors, mining, energy and agriculture, as the drivers of the economy. But it is common knowledge that these sectors are not labour-intensive, and are clearly not enough to provide work for everyone in a country with almost 50 million inhabitants. This is why we, at the regional office, are standing by our affiliates, and Argentina’s entire trade union movement, in their struggle to sustain jobs and defend the nation’s industrial fabric.”