Job insecurity surges: unemployment climbs as informal work hits 18-year high

A new snapshot of Argentina’s labor market showed that conditions continued to deteriorate during the second quarter of 2026, driven by rising informality, the growth of platform-based self-employment and a decline in purchasing power.

According to the latest official data released by Argentina’s statistics agency INDEC on Thursday, unemployment stood at 7.9%, up 0.3 percentage points from the second quarters of both 2025 and 2024 (equivalent to 73,000 more people looking for work without finding it).

Of the 1.2 million unemployed people, four out of 10 are recent job seekers, meaning they have been looking for work for no more than three months, according to consulting firm LCG.

Diego Piccardo, chief economist at the Libertad y Progreso Foundation (LyP), however, warned that the immediate interpretation that the economy is pushing people out of the labor market is incorrect.

His explanation is based on the fact that 338,000 people entered the labor market, while 265,000 found jobs — approximately 80% of the total.

“The difference, 73,000, is exactly the increase in unemployment,” he said, adding that there was net job creation, but it was “insufficient to absorb those who decided to start looking for work.”

LCG explained that the increase in the number of people entering the labor market amounts to annual growth of 2.3%, well above population growth — 0.8% among the population covered by the EPH household survey.

Rising informality Consulting firm LCG noted that informality among salaried workers continues to rise, increasing by 0.2 percentage points from the second quarter of 2025, reaching 37.9% between April and June this year.

That is the highest level in almost 18 years, exceeding the average of the past 10 years (34.6%).

The informality rate — which, in addition to salaried workers, includes self-employed workers — rose 1.8 percentage points to 45%. This represents 348,000 new informal jobs, the highest level recorded since at least 2023.

However, Piccardo pointed to an implication behind the figure that “is uncomfortable.”

If there was a net increase of 265,000 jobs overall, counting all categories, while 348,000 new informal jobs were created, the other categories — registered salaried and self-employed workers — saw a decline of 83,000 jobs.

He warned that the labor market “is not creating jobs; it is restructuring itself downward.” In other words, labor-market conditions are deteriorating.

“The rational response from a household [facing this scenario] is to send a second or third member into the labor market. Participation rises out of necessity, not optimism,” Piccardo added.

Similarly, LCG explained that the reason behind the increase in the number of people looking for work is “the need for households to supplement their income.”

Growth in polyworkers The increase in polyworkers is reflected in the sustained rise of self-employed workers. They currently account for 25.5% of the total, a 1.8% increase from a year earlier.

“This dynamic is directly related to the growth of the self-employed tax regime and the gig economy,” LCG emphasized.

This has been accompanied by a sustained decline in the share of salaried employees among all workers. After falling by 2% in the second quarter of 2026, their share dropped to 70.5%, a level “comparable to the pandemic.”

Another indicator of working conditions and declining purchasing power is the number of hours worked by respondents in the INDEC survey.

The survey found that 27.6% of workers are working 45 hours or more per week. In recent years, that figure was 27.2% (2025) and 26.3% (2024).