Argentina Unemployment Hits 7.9%, Highest Since 2021: What the INDEC Data Means

ARGENTINA · ECONOMY & MONEY

Argentina’s job market is cooling at the same pace as its economy: unemployment of 7.9 percent is the highest in five years, and the rise is driven by more people seeking work in a shrinking economy. For expats the picture cuts both ways — hiring is slower, but peso costs for employers and landlords keep easing. Here is what INDEC published, what sits beneath the headline, and what it means for life and work in Argentina.

What INDEC Published

The figures come from the EPH, Argentina’s permanent household survey, released on Thursday 17 September, Buenos Aires time. Unemployment stood at 7.9 percent of the economically active population in the second quarter. That is up from 7.8 percent in the first quarter and 7.6 percent a year earlier — roughly 1.8 million people.

The activity rate, the share of the population working or seeking work, rose 0.8 points to 48.9 percent. INDEC classifies that rise as statistically significant. Employment held at 45 percent of the population.

The Detail Under the Headline

The weakness is concentrated outside the capital region. In inland urban centres unemployment rose 1.3 points year on year to 7.6 percent, and underemployment — workers who want more hours than they get — climbed 0.9 points to 9.1 percent.

Informality is rising with it. Informal employment gained one point against the second quarter of 2025, and the share of self-employed workers within the informal sector rose from 34.3 to 37.3 percent. That composition matters: self-employment in the informal sector is typically the fallback when payroll jobs disappear, not a first choice.

The spectrum runs in two directions. A rising activity rate means more Argentines judge it worth looking for work at all — a measure of confidence that was missing in the recession years. And year on year, INDEC notes, neither employment nor unemployment moved in a statistically significant way. The direction of travel, however, is upward.

What It Means for Expats and Investors

For foreigners employed in Argentina, a softer labor market means slower wage negotiations and less competition for bilingual staff — but also weaker domestic demand, which is what shops, restaurants and landlords feel first. The same day’s GDP release showed the economy shrank 0.6 percent in the quarter; our full report on the GDP print and the peso reaction has the market detail.

For anyone paid in dollars, the cost picture is unchanged in structure: local prices keep adjusting slowly, and the peso’s managed slide keeps dollar budgets comfortable. That is a snapshot, not a trend to bank on — the IMF mission arriving 21 September will shape the next move.

What Comes Next

The next hard data point is the July EMAE monthly activity index on Thursday 24 September. An IMF staff mission starts Monday 21 September. Third-quarter labor data arrive in December. If activity falls again in the third quarter, the jobs figure for year-end will likely sit above 8 percent; that is an inference from the current direction, not an official forecast.

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