Unemployment rose in 2025 and closed the year at 7.5%

According to the report on the Labor Market published by INDEC, the unemployment rate, which is calculated based on the economically active population, It affects more than 1.7 million people. The figure implies 193 thousand new unemployed people. And in two years it is equivalent to almost 350,000 more unemployed people.

The report also shows an increase in the unemployment rate compared to the third quarter of 2025, when it had been 6.6%, that is, 0.9 percentage points more.

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In the 4th quarter of 2025, the activity and employment rates in 31 urban agglomerations were 48.6% and 45%, respectively. And the unemployment rate, which is calculated based on the economically active population, was 7.5% https://t.co/Bvwo9qIknt pic.twitter.com/nX4HgRrSSR

— INDEC Argentina (@INDECArgentina) March 18, 2026

The unemployment rate for the group of women aged 14 to 29 shows a variation of 3 percentage points, while for the group of men of the same age group it is 3.7 points. For the core age groups (30 to 64 years), both women and men, the rates remained stable, says the Report

Greater Buenos Aires is the area that registers the highest unemployment rate (8.6%). It is followed by the Pampas region (7.7%) and the northeast (5.6%). At the other extreme, the northwest region has the lowest number of unemployed (4.2%), Patagonia (4.8%) and Cuyo (4.9%)

Unemployment of 7.5% is broken down into 7.9% among women and 7.2% among men.

This happened due to the increase in unemployment among the youngest population – the group from 14 to 29 years old – which showed an increase of 4.1 points in men (from 12.5% ​​to 16.2%) and 3 points (from 13.8% to 16.8%) among women of those ages.

With the highest unemployment rates (9.5%), the Buenos Aires suburbs, La Plata, Mar del Plata and Rio Gallegos stand out.

Underemployment remained at 11.3% (2,350,000 at the country level)

Employment fell from 45.7% to 45% (about 150,000 fewer employed people) while informality increased from 42% to 43%. Projected throughout the country, there would be 13 million registered workers and about 9 million “black workers.”

In the 31 Agglomerates surveyed by INDEC, in one year the number of employed people decreased by 93,000 people, with 96,000 more informal employees.

Meanwhile, there was an increase in unemployment among Heads of Household from 3.8% to 4.7%.

Unemployment had a sharp increase in the Greater Buenos Aires parties. In one year, it went from 8.0% (507,000 unemployed) to 9.5% (604,000), while the employed fell from 5,854,000 to 5,741,000. .

At the same time, in the Conurbano there are 1,050,000 employed people who demand another job, dissatisfied with the one they have for salary reasons, labor under-registration, working few hours, etc.

If the unemployed are added to the employed and underemployed who are looking for work, 30% of the active population puts pressure on the labor market in search of an occupation.