Why Argentina Is Losing Private Jobs While Brazil Adds Them

Key Points

• Argentina’s formal private payroll fell by about 17,900 jobs in October 2025 and roughly 71,000 over five months.
• Official data suggest the problem is weak hiring, not a spike in layoffs, with industry and construction hit hardest.
• Brazil is still adding formal jobs, while Chile and Colombia look steadier, leaving Argentina as the outlier for now.

Argentina is entering 2026 with a calmer currency and its lowest annual inflation rate in eight years, even if December crept back toward a 3% monthly pace.

Yet the job engine that matters most for living standards and tax revenue is still sputtering. And the contrast with Brazil is sharp: while Argentina’s private formal payroll is shrinking, Brazil’s formal job count is still growing.

The latest official SIPA labor report, covering October 2025, shows total registered employment falling by 33,134 positions, a 0.3% seasonally adjusted monthly decline and the biggest drop of the year.

Over 12 months, the same dataset points to about 471,937 fewer formal jobs, or a 3.6% year-on-year contraction. Inside that total, the core category is private salaried registered work.

It dropped by about 17,900 jobs in October and about 71,000 over the prior five months. With the private registered payroll near 6.19 million workers, that is roughly a 1.1% decline in five months.

It is not a collapse, but it is persistent, and persistence is what changes household decisions and business plans. SIPA’s breakdown also reduces the mystery. Hiring is the main issue.

Argentina job market struggles

The entry rate fell about 16%, while the exit rate fell roughly 7%. In plain terms, firms are not bringing people in fast enough to replace normal turnover. The decline is broad: 10 of 14 sectors shrank in October.

Losses were concentrated in industry, commerce, construction, and business services. Industry alone fell about 0.6% on the month and was down about 2.6% over the year.

Now compare the region. Brazil’s Novo CAGED data reported a net gain of 85,147 formal jobs in October 2025, with about 49.0 million active formal contracts and a year-to-date net gain above 1.8 million.

Chile’s Aug–Oct 2025 survey showed 8.4% unemployment, about 9.39 million employed, and an informal rate near 26.2%. Colombia reported about 24.37 million employed in October 2025, with private employees at about 10.789 million, up roughly 192,000 from a year earlier.

Is Argentina’s pain “necessary” to become more competitive? It can be, but only if stabilization turns into investment and hiring.

The same SIPA report notes business openings rising and closures falling, a small sign that a clearer, rules-based environment could shift activity toward productive sectors.

The risk is that the adjustment becomes prolonged, leaving a smaller formal economy, more informality, and weaker growth even after inflation cools.

Related coverage: Brazil’s Morning Call | Argentina’s Peso Holds a Tight Blue Premium as Global Tariff This is part of The Rio Times’ daily coverage of Argentina affairs and Latin American financial news.

For the full picture, see our Brazil Tax Reform: Complete Guide.

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