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Argentina Recasts Wage and Job Data as Labor Reform Returns to Force

The push seeks to counter voter anger over lost buying power by reframing official measures under a friendlier legal backdrop.

Overview

  • The Labor Secretariat unveiled an alternative picture of incomes and employment and said the revived reform gives firms tools to lift pay.
  • Using AFIP’s SIPA payroll registry, officials said the average private formal wage rose to 103 from a base of 100 in November 2023, while INDEC’s salary index sat at 96, a gap they attribute to SIPA counting bonuses, overtime and non‑remunerative sums.
  • The Secretariat reworked unemployment by excluding many Potenciar Trabajo beneficiaries once counted as employed, putting the late‑2023 rate at 9.3% rather than 7.7% and estimating it near 7.5% by late 2025, after the program’s closure in April 2026.
  • National‑accounts data cited by the government show the salaried share of income ticked up to 45.5% in 2025, with private employees’ share rising to 37.8% from 36% in 2023.
  • Despite the message of recovery, private registered payrolls have shrunk by more than 180,000 since the administration began and higher utility and transport bills have cut into household budgets.