With inflation contained, the real wage of the registered sector has accumulated a 10.4% improvement since December 2023, in line with the success of the labor reform that formalized 81,808 workers and benefited 25,928 companies in just four months
In the context of firm macroeconomic stabilization and the resounding success of President Javier Milei's program, the income of Argentinians has entered a consolidated path of genuine recovery. The central milestone of the period indicates that registered private sector wages grew by 1.9% in September, as officially confirmed by the Minister of Economy, Luis Caputo, through his account on the X network. This advance in the Wage Index (IS) of registered private sector workers matched the Consumer Price Index (CPI) measured by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) in the ninth month of the year, putting an end to the inherited inflationary distortion and consolidating the stability of purchasing power.
Overall, the performance of the Registered Private Sector shows a compelling upward trajectory since the beginning of the current administration. Since December 2023, wages in the Registered Private Sector have accumulated an increase of 10.4% in terms of real wages. Furthermore, when evaluating the average real wage of this category in September, it is noted that it was positioned 1.5% above the levels of November 2023. Meanwhile, in the Unregistered Private Sector, the accumulated real increase reached a spectacular 53.1% as of April 2026. In this same informal sector, incomes recorded a real advance of 2.6% since March of this year, reaching its highest peak since January.
Diving into the specific data of the Public Sector, the Wage Index recorded a general increase of 1.8% in September. However, the performance of public employees dependent on the National Government stands out significantly, with their wages experiencing an average increase of 3.5% in September, far exceeding the monthly inflation. On the other hand, the social and pension policy focused on the most vulnerable sectors under the fiscal discipline of the government has yielded substantial improvements: retirements rose by 13.9% in real terms between December 2023 and October 2026, while the amount of the Universal Child Allowance (AUH) had a real jump of 109.4% in the same period.
A detailed analysis of income distribution reveals that the recovery driven by the free market has been comprehensive. Between July and September, purchasing power rebounded uniformly across all ten wage brackets of the economy. In this three-month period, the average wage, the wage median, and the wages agreed upon in the main collective bargaining agreements recorded constant real advances of between 1.1% and 1.7%.
This phenomenal context of price stability is virtuously complemented by the direct impact of the labor reform enacted in March and regulated at the end of April. Through the Labor Formalization Incentive Regime (RIFL), the administration of Javier Milei managed to formalize nearly 82,000 workers (81,808 to be precise) in the Private Sector in just four months, between May and August. The adoption of the regime showed a remarkable acceleration month by month: 18,914 hires in May, 41,952 in June, 63,305 in July, and a cumulative record of 81,808 by the end of August, with 18,503 new hires made in that month.
The president, Javier Milei and the minister, Luis Caputo
The tax relief designed to stimulate the hiring of registered employment includes a substantial reduction in employer contributions during the first 48 months of the employment relationship, setting rates of only 2% for SIPA, Family Allowances, and the National Employment Fund, and 3% for INSSJP (PAMI). This deregulation benefited 25,928 companies nationwide in August —compared to 8,024 in May— which represents nearly 5% of the total private employers in the country, with an average of 3.2 workers formalized per establishment. SMEs were the main recipients of this transformation: firms with up to 10 employees constitute 55.1% of those registered, while those with 11 to 50 workers total 8,188 establishments, together accounting for 87% of the benefited employers.
In sectoral terms, the incorporation of positions under the RIFL was led by commerce, with 20,348 workers (24.9% of the total), business services, with 18,487 people (22.6%), and industry, with 12,031 (14.7%), collectively accounting for 62% of the new hires. Additionally, the program's penetration into formal employment in each sector was notable in hotels and restaurants with 2.9%, in construction with 2.2%, and in business services with 2%. Finally, in the territorial breakdown, the Province of Buenos Aires led the hiring with 24,406 workers (29.8%), followed by the City of Buenos Aires with 19,060 (23.3%), Córdoba with 8,940 (10.9%), and Santa Fe with 7,431 (9.1%).
