While the labor reform promoted by the government is in the spotlight, the economy remains unable to generate new jobs. Last August, 11,229 registered jobs were lost, according to data from the Ministry of Labor. And in September, according to the Labor Information Survey (EIL), the level of registered private employment would have continued to decline (-0.1%), accumulating 8 months of job contraction (only in June was a positive value of 0.1% registered). The population with registered employment reached 12,844,725 in August, of which 10,051,165 are registered salaried workers (private sector, public sector, and domestic work) and 2,793,560 in independent work (monotributistas and self-employed). Registered salaried employment fell by 12,604 people: private sector (-0.2%), public sector (-0.1%), and domestic work (-0.1%). Employment in the private sector reached 6,204,252 people, with 10,600 fewer workers. Since the beginning of 2025, there are 27,000 fewer workers. Compared to November 2023, there are 181,512 fewer. Independent work grew by 1,800 people, mainly due to an increase of 5,500 people enrolled in the monotributo, while there were decreases of 2,800 people from the self-employed regime and 900 contributors to the social monotributo. By economic sector, 9 sectors reduced the number of workers, 2 remained stable, and 3 showed an increase. The sectors that were able to increase their employment level were: Fishing (6.1%); Hotels and restaurants (0.2%) and Electricity, gas, and water supply (0.2%). The sectors of Education and Transport, storage, and communications remained stable. Among the sectors that reduced employment, those that declined the most were: Financial intermediation (0.7%); Mining and quarrying (0.6%); Construction (0.5%); Real estate, business, and rental activities (0.3%); Manufacturing industries (0.3%) and Community, social, and personal services (0.2%). Compared to August 2024, salaried employment decreased by 0.4% (equivalent to 37.1 thousand fewer workers): the private salaried sector showed a decline of 0.2% (11.1 thousand fewer people), the public sector had a decrease of 0.5% (15.9 thousand fewer jobs), and domestic work fell by 2.3% (10.2 thousand fewer people). From September 2023, formal employment in the private sector began a phase of net destruction, a trend that intensified during the first quarter of 2024, with an average monthly decline of 0.4%. From April 2024, the contraction of employment began to moderate, and in the third quarter of 2024 the decline stopped. Already in the fourth quarter of 2024, a moderate recovery began, with a monthly growth rate of 0.1%. This recovery was partial and short-lived: during the first five months, employment stagnated, alternating slight monthly increases and decreases, but remaining at levels similar to those of December 2024. In the last three months (June to August 2025), employment again registered negative monthly variations.
