Catherwood LibraryILR School

Four months after declaring the largest debt default in history, Argentina has seen its peso drop seventy percent against the dollar and unemployment rise to twenty-three percent, in an economic crisis that is expected to deepen this year. Decent paying jobs with some measure of job security are a prize beyond the reach of the average person in this economy where over half of the jobs that are off the books---which is exactly the premise behind a new game show named ?Recursos Humanos? (?Human Resources? in Spanish). Every night two prescreened candidates take quizzes, are taped by hidden cameras during a one-day an unpaid on-the-job trial run, and reveal the tragedies and hardships in their personal lives, as they compete for a job with a one-year contract and full benefits---offered by business in return for the free publicity, and awarded by call-in voters across the country---with the winner getting six-months of free family medical coverage.