Argentina's unemployment rate fell to 8.2% in third quarter

Year-on-year unemployment in Argentina fell by 3.5 percentage points in the third quarter of 2021 to 8.2 percent, the INDEC national statistics bureau said on Tuesday.

Third quarter unemployment in 2020 was 11.7 percent.

It was also down by 1.4 percentage points on the second quarter of this year, when it stood at 9.6 percent, said the bureau.

The data means that more than 1.5 million people who are able to work are currently unemployed, said INDEC, which observed that underemployment (those working less than 36 hours a week and seeking additional unemployment) stood at 12.2 percent, equivalent to around 2.3 million people.

"The unemployment rate is lower than before the crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and is also below the averages for 2019 (9.8 percent), 2018 (9.2) and 2017 (8.4)," said INDEC.

"We are experiencing a very strong recovery in employment, which in the third quarter was fully explained by growth in the private sector," said Economy Minister Martín Guzmán in a press release.

The official pointed out that "422,000 jobs were created in the quarter" and stressed that this situation is "consistent with how vibrant the recovery in production and investment is proving to be."
 

Argentina's economy will grow by 10 percent this year, according to the government. 

The most recent Central Bank survey of economists, banks and consultancy firms forecast that GDP would rise 9.7 percent in 2021.

– TIMES/AFP/NA