The unemployment rate stood at 6.3% in the third quarter of 2025, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) within the framework of the Permanent Household Survey (EPH) total urban. The figure represents a slight improvement compared with the 6.4% recorded in the same period of 2024 and confirms that the Argentine labor market remains stable amid the process of economic transformation driven by President Javier Milei.
The activity rate reached 47.5%, while the employment rate stood at 44.5%. In absolute numbers, out of an estimated urban population of 43.3 million people, 20.6 million are part of the economically active population and 19.3 million are employed. The unemployed total 1.3 million. That is to say, almost one out of every two Argentines in urban areas participates in the formal labor market and more than 19 million have jobs.
The official figures strongly refute the catastrophic forecasts that for months predicted an "explosion of unemployment" as a result of fiscal consolidation, the reduction of public spending, and the deregulation of the economy. Far from that scenario, unemployment remains contained and at levels lower than those recorded in 2021 (7.9%) and 2022 (6.7%).
The historical series shows that the labor market went through different stages in recent years. In the third quarter of 2023 unemployment had fallen to 5.4%, then it rose to 6.4% in 2024 and now stands at 6.3%. The current figure consolidates a trend of stability, even in a context of deep macroeconomic adjustment with no recent precedents in Argentina.
