INDEC: Unemployment rose despite the recovery and they warn of increased job insecurity.

Unemployment rose to 7.9% in the first quarter of 2025, breaking a downward trend that had been observed since the middle of last year and raising concerns about job insecurity . This was reflected in official data from the National Institute of Statistics and Census ( INDEC ) , which showed an increase of 1.5 percentage points compared to the 6.4% recorded between October and December 2024.

In the year-on-year comparison, the index also worsened, albeit more slightly: it grew 0.2 points compared to the first quarter of 2024. In turn, the activity rate , which measures how many people are part of the labor market, fell from 48.8% to 48.2%, reflecting a smaller number of people looking for work.

According to INDEC (National Institute of Statistics and Census), there are currently 1,136,000 unemployed people in the country's 31 largest urban centers. In the same period in 2024, that number was 1,088,000. That is, approximately 48,000 more people lost their jobs in just one year.

If the data is projected across the country as a whole, the number of unemployed people rises to 1,807,000 , representing an increase of 68,085 compared to the first quarter of last year. The City of Buenos Aires also posted negative figures: unemployment rose from 6.7% to 7.8% in the same period.

Economist Daniel Schteingart , director of Productive Planning at Fundar, warned that the comparison with 2023 is even more worrying. “Since then, some 250,000 people have become unemployed,” he stated on the social media platform X.

Schteingart recalled that, following the inauguration of the current government and the sharp devaluation of the peso , inflation and the decline in economic activity generated an immediate jump in unemployment . "The data for the first quarter of 2025 were quite weak. Although the economy has recovered, unemployment has not decreased," he said.

The specialist also warned about the growth of informal employment . Only 46% of employed people had registered salaried work, the lowest level since 2007. The remainder are self-employed and unregistered workers, reinforcing the trend toward more precarious employment. According to official data, this situation has been growing for over a decade.

Job insecurity is already a structural part of the Argentine market and poses a challenge for the government. Despite signs of economic recovery, President Javier Milei has yet to reverse the decline in employment.