Abstract

BARGADOS, Ayelen. Covid-19 impact on Argentine sme:. Trab. soc. [online]. 2021, vol.22, n.36, pp.123-145.  Epub Jan 01, 2021. ISSN 1514-6871.

The social, economic and productive impact of COVID-19 will surely be a matter of study for years, the world is still immersed between the first outbreak and a second one. In Argentina, the pandemic has itself added to the pre-existing structural imbalances and the recessive scenario of recent years. This paper aims to analyze the impact of COVID-19 and some associated public policies on production, employment, business strategies and work organization in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, based on multisectoral surveys carried out by the SME Observatory Foundation throughout the national territory. It can be seen that the firms have been dynamic in adopting different actions to cope with the crisis and the different public policy measures have been very important for their survival, although at the beginning of June 2020 8% reported risk of definitive closure. The difficulties to be fully operative also imply the inactivity of part of the personnel, entailing some occupational risk. The companies also show potentially permanent changes in working conditions, with about 60% implementing remote work before the end of 2020.

Keywords : COVID-19; SMEs; business survey data; public policy; production; employment JEL Codes: L25, I18, L20, L11, J20, J53.

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