This year’s annual Kennedy Executive Search partners conference was held in Buenos Aires in Argentina in late September. It was really interesting to leave the EU bubble and to see how other regions of the world conduct their business and in particular, manage recruitment in relation to their economy.
Argentina it’s a fascinating country with a mind-blowing set of statistics, mostly good, some not so good. The country is the eighth biggest in the world and they have a population of 45 million with over 1 million Argentines of Irish descent. They have a huge amount of natural resources and are blessed with some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world from mountains to beaches to the vast Patagonia plateau. Buenos Aires which in English means ‘Good Air’ is a vast city, home to 17 million people, which puts it as one of the top 20 largest cities in the world. Apart from the near religious status that football has in Argentina (with their ‘disciples’ of Maradona and Messi), it is also known for its wonderful (and affordable) steaks and Malbec wine.
Other less enviable reasons that Argentina is known for is its volatile political landscape and its infamous rollercoaster economy. It seems to have got stuck in an inflation addicted spiral and with its current president Javier Melei resorting to extreme measures to break out of the fiscal dive.
With an average monthly salary of $243 it is hard to get your head around how people cope with the real curse of the country, inflation. In Ireland, we have about 2% annual inflation, in Argentina they are delighted that they have recently held inflation at 2% per month! That is 24% per year which compounds to closer to 30% and that is the best they’ve had in years. Salaries are on target to increase 40% this year. In Ireland it is just under 4%. When all is said and done, the Argentinian people are very warm, friendly and energetic. They have learnt to be resourceful and very resilient.
As always when I travel it always reinforces my belief that even though Ireland has some challenges, in general we are a very stable, prosperous, well-run country that is extremely well respected on the international stage.
Bob Hoffman
Managing Partner
Vista Executive Search