The starting point is 2004. If informal employment were marginal, this would not be a problem. The Argentine tragedy is that the informal are already almost half of the labor market. That is why there is a certain atmosphere of malaria in the labor issue, IDESA concludes. Non-remunerative sums and bonuses are being used to recover purchasing power. The Minimum, Vital, and Mobile Salary (SMVM) reached $334,800 and the RIPTE (average for stable workers) at $1,611,851. Tied to inflation The Argentine Institute for Economic and Social Development (IDESA) extracted data from the Secretariat of Labor to estimate that private registered salaries had grown by 24% as of October 2025 compared to December 2024. It rated as highly probable that this salary by December 2025 would tie with inflation, as inflation as of October 2025 had been growing at 25% since December 2024. In other words, it can already be said that in 2025 the formal salary tied with inflation. The informal one, according to the INDEC Index, by October 2025, had grown by 84% compared to December, 48% above inflation and 56% above the poverty line. This marginal behavior indicates that poverty continued to fall in the second half of 2025, which will be confirmed in March 2026 when the results for the 2nd half of 2025 are released. Taking data from the INDEC's Permanent Household Survey for the main occupation income of non-registered employees and non-professional self-employed and rounding the numbers to see the forest and not the tree, it emerges that in 2025 the average salary of informals was in the order of $500,000. In 2024 this average salary had been $300,000 and in 2023 it was $370,000, both in real terms at 2025 prices. The 2025 level is much higher, but equivalent to 2020, that is, the pandemic year. Inflation hits the informal salary When inflation accelerates, the informal salary is the one that suffers the most because informality is a market without rules. It is governed by pure supply and demand. It is impossible for an informal worker to increase their remuneration anticipating future inflation. Because reality forces them to inevitably earn what past inflation dictates. That is why, when inflation slowed down in 2025, the informal salary was the one that recovered the most; because it was the one that lost the most with the inflationary acceleration. Conclusion, so far, the 21st century was a period of initial bonanza for informal salaries until 2012 and then an endless fall until 2024. 2025 was a strong recovery. Buenos Aires, January 21, 2026 (NA) -- The average gross salary in the private sector reached $1,798,332 in December 2025, with a year-on-year variation of 44.34%. Salary ranges also reflect the centrality of technical and operational profiles, as confirmed by the Noticias Argentinas agency. At the end of the year, a maintenance technician earned between $1,450,000 and $1,800,000, a clerk between $1,100,000 and $1,350,000, administrative staff between $1,000,000 and $1,400,000, and warehouse workers between $820,000 and $990,000. As for gender, female participation is still lower (38% versus 61% for men), although greater insertion of women is observed in customer service, administration, hospitality, and health. The survey was conducted by the Grupo Ceta company, with information collected from a monitoring of job postings, employment surveys, and official data (INDEC). In December 2025, private salaries in Argentina showed significant increases driven by collective bargaining (commerce employees, construction, etc.).
