Job insecurity surges: unemployment climbs as informal work hits 18-year high
The most recent data shows that polyworking is also growing, as well as the people who report having to work more hours La entrada Job insecurity surges: unemployment climbs as informal work hits 18-year high se publicó primero en Buenos Aires Herald .
Argentina's labor market continued to worsen in the second quarter of 2026, according to official data released by the country's statistics agency INDEC. Unemployment rose to 7.9%, up 0.3 percentage points from the previous two years. Of the 1.2 million unemployed, four out of 10 are recent job seekers. Diego Piccardo, chief economist at the Libertad y Progreso Foundation, cautioned that the rise in unemployment is not due to the economy pushing people out of the labor market.
Instead, 265,000 people found jobs, while 338,000 entered the labor market, leading to a net increase of 73,000 unemployed people. Informality among salaried workers rose to 37.9%, the highest level in nearly 18 years, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous quarter. This reflects 348,000 new informal jobs, the highest since at least 2023.
The overall informality rate increased to 45%, representing 348,000 new informal jobs. Piccardo warned that while the economy created 265,000 jobs, it also saw a decline of 83,000 jobs in other categories, indicating a downward restructuring of the labor market.
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