Disaggregated data for August reflect the magnitude of the job cuts:
• Total jobs lost: 13,100 • Loss in the private sector: 10,600 jobs • Loss in the public sector: 1,700 jobs
The contraction, which mainly affects companies, describes a picture of stagnation where only formal employment in private households managed to remain stable.
Minimum wage at a value below that of 2001
In parallel with the fall in employment, the IIEP study reveals the historic collapse in the purchasing power of the minimum, vital, and mobile salary (SMVM):
Between November 2023 and October 2025, the SMVM accumulated a real drop of 35%. The real minimum wage for October 2025 is at a value lower than that recorded in the year 2001, before the collapse of the convertibility plan. The current value of the SMVM represents only a third (36%) of the maximum value of the historical series, reached in September 2011 (an erosion of 64%). The contraction of purchasing power has deepened notably in recent months, with drops in July (-0.5%), August (-0.5%), September (-2.0%), and October (-2.3%), consolidating a downward trend since the acceleration in inflation that began at the end of 2023.
According to the report, the loss of formal jobs in the private sector was six times greater than that recorded in the public sector.
As reported by the Argentine News Agency, formal salaried employment has shown an uninterrupted decline since the month of May.
Buenos Aires, November 29 (NA) -- A new study from the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy (IIEP) of the UBA confirmed that the adjustment in employment in Argentina has impacted the private sector with greater force.
