Abstract

GOMEZ LENDE, Sebastián. Pyscho-sphere, metal mining at great scale and labour market: myth and reality of the argentinean case (1996-2019). Trab. soc. [online]. 2023, vol.24, n.40, pp.105-128.  Epub Jan 01, 2023. ISSN 1514-6871.

Since the intense debates, conflicts and social resistances generated by the advance of metal mining at great scale in Argentina, the State and the companies have constructed a narrative in wich this activity is endorsed and legitimized as a supposed driver of regional and local labour markets. Taking into account the six main mining provinces of the country for the 1996-2019 period and using public statistics, corporate and government reports, academic literature, specialized websites and press reports, this article dismantles that myth, identifies and discusses the methodological and empirical inconsistencies of the government discourse, retraces the changes in the workforce of this sector, and provides an account of the volume and geographical origins of the labour forcerecruited in metal mining. Far from showing a massive generation of direct employment and strenghening the regional development, the evidence obtaineed shows that the volume of the sector`s labor force is significantly lower than was promised by the pro-mining narrative and that a large parte of this workpower comes not from the mining regions but others provinces. Beyond the questionable socio-environmental impacts of this economic activity, the results are disappointing for an industry that has received substantial state benefits and that is the main source of exports in the provinces involved.

Keywords : metal mining at great scale; labour market; extractivism; Argentina.

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