Informality Rises as Self-Employment Grows
Informal employment covers 45% of workers in Argentina, compared with 41.4% at the end of 2023, according to a Universidad Nacional de Rosario study built on data from the INDEC's Permanent Household Survey. The report, covering the second quarter of 2026, warns about the advance of unregistered employment and the wide gaps between sectors and regions.[S1][S2]
A central driver is the growth of self-employment. Since late 2023, the share of salaried workers in total employment fell from 73.7% to 70.5%, while the proportion of self-employed workers rose from 22.6% to 25.5%. A significant part of these workers operate outside the formal system.[S1][S2]
Among urban self-employed workers, 65.8% are informal, while 37.9% of salaried workers make no pension contributions. That last indicator also reflects a deterioration from the end of 2016, when it stood at 33.6%.[S1][S2]
Domestic Service and Construction Lead Informality
Job precarity varies significantly by economic activity. Domestic service records the highest informality rate, at 77.4%, followed by construction, at 76.2%. High levels also appear in hospitality and accommodation, at 63.9%, and commerce, at 54.7%, two activities with a large share of urban employment.[S1][S2]
By contrast, professional, scientific and technical services show informality of 19.2%, while the information and communication sector reaches 33.9%. These differences reflect the link between the level of job formalization and the productive characteristics of each sector, especially productivity and company size.[S1][S2]
The North Concentrates the Highest Rates
Regional differences are among the study's most notable findings. In several cities of northern Argentina, more than 80% of self-employed workers operate informally. Formosa tops the list at 87.9%, followed by Gran Tucumán and Tafí Viejo at 87.6%, Santiago del Estero and La Banda at 87.5%, Gran Resistencia at 84% and Gran San Juan at 83%.[S1][S2]
At the opposite end is the City of Buenos Aires, where informality among self-employed workers reaches 32.8%. It is followed by Mar del Plata and Batán at 42.7%, Bahía Blanca and Cerri at 43% and Ushuaia and Río Grande at 43.1%.[S1][S2]
For total informal employment, Patagonian localities show rates between 18% and 33.5%. In the Northwest they range from 43.9% to 56.2%, while in the Northeast they fall between 51.9% and 53.8%.[S1]
A Wide Gap Between the City and the Conurbano
Differences are also significant within the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area. In the City of Buenos Aires, total informal employment reaches 26%, with a rate of 25.6% among salaried workers and 32.8% among independent workers. In the Buenos Aires conurbano, informal employment represents 47.5% of the total, while among self-employed workers it rises to 70.2%.[S1][S2]
According to the report, these disparities do not respond only to the greater or lesser presence of independent workers, but also to the characteristics of each region's productive structure. Where higher-productivity activities and large companies predominate, registration levels tend to be higher. One example is Neuquén, where the development of the hydrocarbons industry coincides with informal employment of 26.4%.[S1]
The weight of public employment also helps moderate the indicators in provinces such as La Rioja and Catamarca, where more than a third of employed people work for the state and informality rates stand at 43.9% and 45.1%, respectively.[S1]
