Although he unemployment went down again Argentina In the third quarter, the data hides a less encouraging reality: Almost all jobs created last year were informal self-employed. This is a paradox that deepened during the administration Javier Milei and was exposed amid the ruling party’s push for labor reform.
In a low-income environment, more people work, but under precarious conditions, without contributions or social protection.
According to information from National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec)In the third quarter of 2025, informality reached 43.3% of the workforce, one of the highest levels in recent years. The main driving force for this progress was informal self-employmenta category that explains much of the decline in the unemployment rate.
The government this week celebrated cutting unemployment from 6.9% to 6.6% in a year, equivalent to about 1.6 million people out of work if data from key urban centers are extrapolated across the country. The Minister of Economics, Luis CaputoFor example, he highlighted in a post on
The numbers are correct and do not account for a statistical effect or reduced job search. Unemployment fell because more people were able to enter the labor market. What matters, however, is what type of employment is created.
According to an analysis by the consulting firm Econviews based on the Indec Permanent Household Survey (EPH)Almost all new positions are informal self-employed: ie People who work independently without being registered with the state treasury or making contributions and who do not work for a small or micro-enterprise. Around 226,000 people were added in the last twelve months.
“We are not talking about app drivers or delivery platform employees when we talk about informal self-employed people. These are people who sell food from home, bricklayers who don’t bill, trade fair centers or small transport. Activities that generate income but are completely outside the system,” explains Daniel Schteingart, director of sustainable productive development at the Fundar Foundation.
This phenomenon contradicts the government’s goal of promoting formal job creation in the private sector. The Basic LawThe law, sanctioned in the middle of last year, included labor law changes to make hiring easier, such as extending probationary periods, reducing fines for failing to register and new self-employment figures. For now, the data shows that these measures have failed to reverse the trend.
The Casa Rosada is now sponsoring one Labor reform lower, which is intended to reduce the costs of hiring and firing workers. The final document is reflected in the diagnosis May Council, The high level of informality can largely be explained by the fiscal and regulatory pressures that companies face when creating jobs..
After this week’s positive ruling, the leader of the libertarian bloc in the Senate, Patricia Bullrichexpects the project to be discussed in February.
The extent of the phenomenon is reflected in the current composition of the labor market. There were such in the third quarter of this year 6.2 million registered employees in the main urban areas compared to 3.6 million unregistered workers. In return, the universe of The number of self-employed people was around 3.4 million peopleOf these, almost two thirds – around 2.2 million – were informally self-employed, without registration and without contributions. Meanwhile, the employer segment only reached 428,000 people.
This employment distribution shows that employment growth is concentrated in the weakest segments of the labor market, while formal employment remains stagnant.
The latest figures reinforce the idea of a divided labor market. According to consultancy Equilibra, self-employment rose 8% last year, driven by a 12.1% increase in informal workers. On the other hand, the number of formal workers grew by only 1.2%. The proportion of informality among dependent workers remains at around 36.7%, while it rose to 43.3% among all dependent workers.
For Jorge Colina, president of Idesa, the lack of formal employment is a response to structural problems. “Companies hire more people when the economy is growing and labor regulations do not create uncertainty. In Argentina, activity has been stagnant for more than a decade and labor regulations discourage new hiring,” he said.
Comparing the third quarter of 2025 to the same period in 2023 before the change in government, total employment increased by 2.3%, but this increase was almost entirely due to self-employment. During the same period, the number of dependent employment reported in private companies fell by 3%.
Trade unions are also warning of a deterioration in the quality of employment. Luis Campos, researcher at the Institute for Studies and Training of the Autonomous CTA, pointed out that informality remains at a high level and that the labor market is “adjusting according to quality and not quantity”.
“Self-employment is the most dynamic category today. Not because there are more entrepreneurs, but because many people cannot find any other alternative to generate income. That’s why we don’t see big jumps in unemployment, but a continued deterioration in working conditions,” he explained.
The industry is one of the sectors traditionally associated with the creation of formal and higher quality jobs, but also one of the most penalized sectors in recent years. According to the industrialists’ diagnosis, the combination of import opening and still weak domestic demand had a full impact on activity and employment.
The Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) warned last week about the production situation after its president, Martin Rappalliniwill attend a meeting with Caputo at the Palacio de Hacienda along with the company’s leadership. “In 2025, industrial activity was characterized by weak production dynamics, heterogeneous across sectors and negatively impacting formal employment, with 4,303 fewer jobs in September and a cumulative loss of 21,190 jobs in the first nine months of the year,” the company warned.
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