Milei’s Boom Leaves Buenos Aires Workers Paying

A tire plant’s closure in Buenos Aires cost Alicia Arce her largest customer, and her cleaning-supplies shop’s sales have fallen 30 percent since Javier Milei took office. “We've talked about shutting down,” said Arce, 63. “We've reached the point where we don't even have enough money to fill up a tank of gas. So what exactly are we keeping this business open for?” The government opened the economy to foreign trade, including imported tyres, while FATE struggled and then closed in February.

Who Gets the Boom

Diego Esquivel, 38, moved from Buenos Aires to Neuquén to manage housing for oil workers. His salary tripled, and he can now help his daughter pay college expenses—something he couldn't do on his former US$900 monthly salary at a healthcare provider. “In Buenos Aires, I couldn't make ends meet. That's the difference,” he said.

The two accounts sit inside an economy producing sharply different outcomes. More than 32,000 businesses had closed since Milei took office, and Argentina had lost more than 265,000 private-sector jobs. An expanding informal economy added a similar number of workers, often at substantially lower earnings than formal payroll jobs.

The energy boom is drawing investment to oil and gas in the south, lithium in the north and copper in the west. Milei's investment programme had approved 27 projects worth US$76 billion, with another US$133 billion in proposals under evaluation. But that investment hadn't spread broadly into Buenos Aires and other metropolitan areas, where job losses, rising utility bills and household debt weighed on people who saw growth passing them by.

“ The winners of the Milei economic programme are capital-intensive. The losers – including small businesses, retail and construction – are labour-intensive,” said Marcelo García, director of the Americas at consulting firm Horizon Engage. The official numbers offer little comfort to those on the losing side: only 39 percent of Argentines approved of Milei's government in a September survey by AtlasIntel for Bloomberg News.

The Cost Below the Oil Rigs

Neuquén is growing faster than everywhere else, but its expansion has strained services. The province had about 700,000 residents and reported 21,000 new residents the previous year. Roads, street lighting and basic infrastructure remained limited, while new arrivals put pressure on public transit, health and education systems. The local government began building 160 classrooms for thousands of children.

The job rush doesn't guarantee a living. Oil drillers account for a small share of the workforce, and higher pay in energy-linked industries was partly offset by Neuquén's higher cost of living. Carlos Isa, who moved to the province and runs an earth-moving-equipment company, said costs were higher than elsewhere in the country and business was volatile. “Many people come here thinking this is a golden dream, but today I would advise caution,” he said.

Roberto Ambrosio, a former FATE machine operator, lost his factory job and took painting work as former colleagues became Uber drivers. He lives on his wife's salary with their college-age son at home. “Uber helps you pay the electricity or petrol bill, but it doesn't support a family,” he said. “We had to cut expenses absolutely everywhere.”

The Ballot Doesn't Pay the Bills

Milei needs investment optimism in Argentina's south, west and north to translate into votes in the east in the 2027 presidential election. Neuquén backed him with 60 percent of the vote in 2023, but the province's fast growth hasn't erased strained services or the gap between energy-linked winners and workers losing formal jobs.

Esquivel voted for Milei three years ago and for his party in the 2025 midterm election. Yet, despite landing a high-paying job, he hasn't settled on a choice for the next presidential vote. “The government's decisions can affect us for better or worse, but I try not to fantasize about any party or politician,” he said. “The truth is I don't know. There's a long way to go to 2027 and I haven't decided who I'll vote for.”

Milei has alternated between denying that times were difficult, blaming predecessors for the inherited crisis and acknowledging that the heartland was still struggling. At an August 20 conference, he said, “The photo is still horrible but the movie – it's the best movie in Argentina's history.” The photo includes shut businesses, lost jobs and families cutting expenses. The movie's investors are arriving gradually.