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Lucía Ramírez Leira

CEDLAS, IIE-FCE-Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina

I value World of Labour as a useful platform for making academic research accessible to a broad audience and for connecting rigorous evidence with relevant policy debates.

World of Labour role

Author

Current position

Senior Researcher and Executive Coordinator, Center for Distributive, Labor and Social Studies (CEDLAS), Universidad Nacional de La Plata; Adjunct Professor, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, IIE-FCE-Universidad Nacional de La Plata

Research interest

Labour economics; income distribution and inequality; minimum wages and collective bargaining; informality; poverty and social policy; development economics

Positions/functions as a policy advisor

Consultant, World Bank; Consultant, CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean

Past positions

Junior Researcher, CEDLAS, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 2017–2024; Research Assistant, Instituto de Economía, Universidad de la República, 2012–2016

Qualifications

PhD in Economics, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, 2024

Selected publications

  • “Does the Minimum Wage Affect Wage Inequality? A Study for the Six Largest Latin American Economies.” The Journal of Development Studies, 60:4, 494–510 (2024) (with C. Lombardo and L. Gasparini).

  • "The Potential Distributive Impact of AI-driven Labor Changes in Latin America." IDB Working Paper 14253, (2025) (with M. Ciaschi, G.Falcone, S. Garganta, L. Gasparini, and O. Bertín).

  • "Wage Floors Set in Collective Bargaining: Evidence on Wages and Employment in Argentina." CEDLAS Working Paper 353 (2025) (with C. Lombardo and L. Gasparini).

  • "Salarios mínimos sectoriales e informalidad laboral en el Uruguay del siglo XXI." Instituto Juan Pablo Terra, Uruguay (2023) (with M. Yapor).

  • "Entendiendo los cambios en la segregación escolar. Un análisis en base a microdescomposiciones." REICE. Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación, 18:4, 97–121 (2020) (with E. Vázquez).

Article(s)

  • The labour market in Argentina, 2003-2025

    Argentina’s labour market shows low unemployment but worsening job quality, informality, wages, and human capital

    David José JaumeLuis A. LaguingeLucía Ramírez Leira, October 2026
    Argentina’s labour market experienced two sharply contrasting periods. The first, between 2003 and 2012, was characterized by falling unemployment, rising real wages, declining inequality, and improvements in formal employment. The second was marked by prolonged macroeconomic instability, stagnant productivity, and deteriorating labour market conditions. Despite relatively low unemployment rates, real wages collapsed, informality remained persistently high, and a growing share of workers became poor despite being employed. At the same time, human capital accumulation among younger cohorts has weakened significantly. Argentina's labour market challenge is no longer primarily one of unemployment but of job quality.
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