September numbers that mark a slight improvement

In September, the formal salaries measured through the RIPTE (Taxable Remuneration of Stable Workers) They increased 4.1% while average inflation was 3.5%.

These figures mark a salary increase in relation to the average increase in prices, and also in relation to the 3.8% increase in August, a month in which the CPI increased by 4.2%.

Since May, both due to the joint ventures and the increases for those “outside the agreement”, there has been a salary recovery after the strong deterioration due to the December devaluation and the subsequent inflationary surge.

Even so, and after the strong losses in salary purchasing power during the two previous governments, in relation to November 2023, in the first 10 months of Javier Milei’s managementthe average RIPTE salary increased by 140.5%, while inflation was 152.9%. It represents a drop of almost 5% above the 20% loss in the previous 6 years.

The average RIPTE salary in September was $1,075,145.08 when in November 2023 it had been $447,079.57.

The RIPTE is a pension and partial salary index that is calculated on formal salaries with contributions to Social Security up to a defined limit for personal contributions to the social security system that varies every month. And it considers, but with limits, the salaries of jobs in the private sector and the national, provincial and municipal public sector that transferred their pension funds to the SIPA-ANSeS.

The Ministry of Social Security clarifies that for the calculation of the RIPTE, the salaries of jobs with a seniority of 13 months or more are considered, both in the public and private sectors. That is to say, salaries for new jobs are excluded. Furthermore, it only quantifies the remunerative components of the salary (taxable to the social security system). That is, it does not take into account the non-remunerative increases that are agreed upon in many joint ventures.

That is why the Secretary of Labor considers that the RIPTE (Taxable Remuneration of Stable Workers) does not mean that the total real salary or income has changed in the same proportion. It recognizes that “it is feasible that, in different periods of time, a typical indicator for evaluating salaries such as the average salary of private registered employment presents variations different from the RIPTE.” And it is also one of the reasons for the differences with the Salary Index. from INDEC, which is a survey, and which includes the income of unregistered workers.

Another official Labor measurement, based on the gross remunerations earned for each month of private sector employees, declared by the employer to the social security system, indicates that the average gross nominal remuneration for August 2024 was $1,251,170, and grew by 139.8% compared to November 2023. And half of the workers received a gross remuneration of less than $ in August. 969,453.