MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: unemployment hits record figures

Unemployment grew 0.2% yoy in Q1 of 2025

Argentina's unemployment rate rose to 7.9% in Q1 2025, the highest since Q3 2021, up 0.2% from Q1 2024 and 1.5% from Q4 2024, according to a report from the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) released Thursday in Buenos Aires.

The data, based on a survey of 31 urban areas covering 29.8 million people, estimates 1.7–1.8 million unemployed, the highest rate in nearly four years.

The employment rate was 44.4% (13.3 million people), with 42% in informal jobs and 36.3% lacking pension contributions.

Formal salaried jobs dropped by 200,000, informal by 100,000, while self-employment grew by 100,000.

Greater Buenos Aires saw the highest unemployment at 9.1% (9.7% excluding the capital), followed by the Pampas region at 7.4%.Patagonia had the lowest at 4.9%.
Joblessness was higher for women (9%) than men (7%), with 71.4% of the unemployed having up to hugh-school education.

About 67.8% sought jobs for less than a year, 32% for over a year. Economic reactivation occurred, but industries like construction and manufacturing saw job losses.