Argentina's labor market entered 2025 with cautious signs of recovery after the significant disruption caused by the economic adjustment program implemented from December 2023 onward. The combination of a sharp devaluation, fiscal tightening, and monetary contraction generated an economic recession in the first half of 2024 that translated into job losses, wage erosion, and increased informality. By Q4 2024, however, the labor market data — drawn primarily from the Permanent Household Survey (EPH) — pointed to a gradual stabilization, with unemployment declining from its 2024 peak and wage trends beginning to recover in real terms.
Unemployment and employment: headline figures
The unemployment rate stood at 7.3% in Q4 2024, down from a peak of 8.3% reached in Q1 2024 when the recession was most acute. Total employment across the economy was estimated at approximately 20.1 million workers. Formal private-sector employment registered by the social security system fell 4.2% over the full year 2024 before recovering modestly in Q4, as business conditions improved and some sectors began to rebuild payrolls. The construction sector — closely linked to public works spending that was sharply reduced as part of fiscal adjustment — was among the hardest hit. Our dashboard on employment and wages tracks employment levels by sector, wage indices, and informality rates using EPH and administrative payroll data.
The formal-informal wage divide
One of the most persistent structural features of Argentina's labor market is the large wage gap between formal and informal workers. In Q4 2024, formal private-sector employees earned an average of approximately $1,850,000 pesos per month, compared to $1,050,000 for informal workers — a 43% gap that reflects differences in legal protections, benefits (health insurance, retirement contributions, paid leave), and the bargaining power available through union representation. Approximately 45% of Argentina's employed workforce operates in the informal economy — a rate that has remained stubbornly high despite decades of policy efforts to reduce it. The self-employed segment grew 6.2% in 2024, as some displaced formal workers turned to independent or gig-economy activity as a bridge between jobs.
Sectoral structure and gender gaps
The sectoral distribution of employment in Argentina reflects the economy's service-oriented structure. Commerce (retail and wholesale trade) accounted for approximately 18% of total employment, making it the largest single employer. Manufacturing followed at 14%, construction at 7%, and agriculture at 5%. Services sectors including health, education, finance, and professional services collectively accounted for the remainder. Gender wage inequality remains a significant feature: women earn approximately 27% less than men in comparable roles and occupations, a gap driven by occupational segregation (concentration in lower-paid sectors), the disproportionate burden of unpaid care work, and direct wage discrimination.
Wages, paritarias, and purchasing power recovery
Union-negotiated collective wage agreements (paritarias) averaged 121% annual nominal increases in 2024 — slightly above the 117.8% annual inflation rate, representing a modest real gain for formal workers covered by collective bargaining. This partial recovery in real wages, combined with the deceleration in inflation through the second half of 2024, contributed to the gradual improvement in household income indicators visible in the later EPH rounds. Our dashboard on the permanent household survey provides the household-level income and poverty context within which labor market trends operate. As Argentina moves into 2025, sustaining real wage gains will require both continued inflation deceleration and an acceleration in formal employment creation — a combination that depends on broader economic recovery taking hold.
