This measure seeks to redirect resources toward training and education as tools to generate real opportunities.

Starting in April, the government of Javier Milei will move forward with a profound transformation of the social assistance system, eliminating nearly 900,000 social plans of $78,000 per month and replacing them with a job training voucher scheme.

The decision, which implies the definitive closure of the model inherited from Potenciar Trabajo, is part of a strategy aimed at prioritizing training and labor insertion over direct assistance, which proved to be ineffective.

The measure was driven by the Ministry of Human Capital, headed by Sandra Pettovello, and responds to a roadmap defined since the beginning of President Javier Milei’s administration.

According to reports, the Volver al Trabajo (Return to Work) program, which had partially replaced Potenciar Trabajo, will stop being paid, giving way to a new system focused on training.

According to available information, beneficiaries have already begun receiving notifications through the Mi Argentina app and via email, informing them of the termination of the plan and the possibility of enrolling in the new scheme.

The universe affected is around 900,000 people, corresponding to the segment that functioned as a transition stage toward employment.

This change represents a significant shift in the social policy historically applied in Argentina, especially during Kirchnerism. Instead of sustaining generalized monthly transfers that generate nothing, the Milei government is betting on a model that promotes labor training.

The New Voucher System

Through the vouchers, beneficiaries must voluntarily enroll and choose courses within a network of training centers that is currently expanding across the country.

This decision marks the end of a cycle. Potenciar Trabajo, which at one point had more than 1.3 million beneficiaries, had been frozen at the start of the current administration, along with the elimination of social organization intermediation.

At that time, the government had already set a 24-month deadline to maintain the scheme, a period that is now expiring without any intention of an extension.

After the initial conversion, the system had been divided into two large groups: about 900,000 beneficiaries within the Volver al Trabajo program and another nearly 300,000 under a more permanent assistance scheme, intended for people with greater difficulties inserting themselves into the labor market. This latter group will not be affected by the elimination, which reinforces the differentiated approach of the new policy.

The previous model, based on massive transfers and different levels of intermediation, did not achieve its goal of facilitating labor insertion. On the contrary, it ended up consolidating structures that made direct access to employment difficult.

Faced with this diagnosis, the new strategy seeks to redirect resources toward training and education as central tools to generate real opportunities.

The implementation of the voucher system thus appears as one of the main bets of Javier Milei’s administration in social matters.

With less emphasis on direct assistance to adults of working age and a greater focus on training, the government aims to structurally transform the bond between the State and beneficiaries, promoting autonomy and insertion into the formal labor market, while leaving behind permanent state dependence.