INDEC says Argentina's unemployment rate stood at 7.8% in first quarter

Argentina's unemployment rate edged up to 7.8 percent in the first quarter of 2026, according to new data from the INDEC national statistics bureau – a slight rise from 7.5 percent in the final quarter of last year, though marginally below the 7.9 percent recorded in the same period of 2025.

The figures, drawn from INDEC's Permanent Household Survey (Encuesta Permanente de Hogares) across 31 urban agglomerations, put the number of people out of work at 1.1 million – those who have no employment, are available to work and are actively seeking a job. The agency noted, however, that neither the quarterly nor the year-on-year variation was statistically significant.

Activity and employment rates also held steady, at 48.6 percent and 44.8 percent respectively, with 13.5 million people in work across the country.

INDEC reported that of a total of 30.1 million people counted across the country (63.4 percent), 51.4 percent (15.5 million) form part of the inactive population – meaning they are neither in work nor actively seeking it – while 48.6 percent (14.6 million) make up the Economically Active Population (EAP), meaning they hold at least one job or, if not, are actively seeking one and are available to work.

The employment rate stood at 44.8 percent, equivalent to 13.5 million people holding at least one job and working a minimum of one hour.

As for the unemployment rate, 1.1 million people are out of work, representing 7.8 percent of the EAP. These individuals have no employment but are actively seeking work and are available to take it up.

Of the 13.5 million people in employment, 71.8 percent are salaried workers, some 9.7 million people, of whom 62.1 percent have pension contributions deducted and 37.9 percent do not.

Among the self-employed and non-salaried (28.2 percent, or 3.8 million people), 85.5 percent work independently, 13 percent have an employer and 1.1 percent are unpaid family workers.

As is often the case, INDEC’s employment report highlights the staggering size of Argentina’s “black” or “off the books” economy – only 55.7 percent of workers are formally employed, as opposed to 44.2 percent informally. 

Buenos Aires City

In a separate report, the Buenos Aires City government said that 13.5 percent of the capital’s active population were looking for work in the first quarter. 

IDECBA, City Hall’s data institute, said that 136,500 people were without work between January and March and classified as unemployed, representing 7.9 percent of the economically active population (EAP) in the capital. That was a slight rise year-on-year of just 0.1 points from 2025. 

Compared with the fourth quarter of last year, unemployment rose by 0.6 percentage points from 7.3% of the EAP – a figure that at the time represented 126,000 residents without registered employment.

– TIMES/NA