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Argentina’s Informal Employment Rises to 43.2% in Q2 2025

A UBA–CONICET study links the deterioration to prolonged stagnation and finds the burden falls hardest on young workers and low-productivity sectors like domestic service and construction.

Overview

  • The share rose 1.6 percentage points year over year, and the rate among salaried workers reached 37.7%, the highest since 2008 except for Q2 2022.
  • Six in ten workers aged 16–24 are in unregistered jobs, and informality escalates sharply for those with incomplete secondary education.
  • Poverty risk is markedly higher: 42% of informal workers live in poor households, and 40% earn less than the individual basic consumption basket, versus 5% among formal workers.
  • Regional gaps are stark, with NOA, Cuyo and Nordeste above 48% while Patagonia records the lowest levels; rates range from 18% in Ushuaia–Río Grande to nearly 60% in Gran TucumánTafí Viejo and 56.7% in Gran San Juan.
  • Sectoral hotspots persist, with domestic work and construction at about 75.4% unregistered, underscoring entrenched precariousness in activities with lower educational attainment.