Wages have fallen 20% since 2018, worst drop in the region

[MilHojas]

https://buenosairesherald.com/economics/argentine-wages-have-fallen-20-since-2018-worst-drop-in-the-region

The clear deterioration of Argentine salaries is a trend that predates President Javier Milei. It is worth noting, however, that wages suffered a sharper decline over the last year of the Alberto Fernández administration (2023) and the first years of the libertarian government.

 

[steveinbsas]

https://buenosairesherald.com/economics/argentine-wages-have-fallen-20-since-2018-worst-drop-in-the-region

This article cites changes in the percentage of wages without any reference whatsoever to the peso amounts subject to the decline.

Regardless of what the salaries were during the past eight years, I am focused more on how much wages and salaries are now.

So I asked Google AI "What is the current average wage in Argentina?" and got this reply:

"As of early 2026, the average gross monthly salary in Argentina is approximately ARS 850,000 (roughly $790–$800 USD), though median income is lower, often reported around ARS 450,000–500,000, with significant variation due to high inflation, informal employment, and sector.

Average Salary Range: While averages fluctuate, many formal employees earn between ARS 700,000 and 1.5 million per month.

Sector Differences: Public sector averages can hover around ARS 460,000, while private sector, especially in roles like mining or technology, can be higher.

Informal Economy: Informal workers often earn significantly less, with many jobs averaging roughly ARS 300,000–400,000.
Minimum Wage: The legal minimum wage as of March 2026 is ARS 1,762 per hour.

Key Considerations:
Inflation: High inflation rates cause salaries to be adjusted frequently.

Exchange Rates: The value in USD varies significantly depending on whether the official or the "blue" (informal) exchange rate is used.

Regional Differences: Salaries in Buenos Aires and southern regions tend to be higher than in northern provinces."

Perhaps now we can have a meaningful discussion about the "quality of life" that these levels of income can provide.

As far as I'm concerned, the most important factors are the number of individuals living on any given amount and thier hierarchy of values.

 

[Ries]

I never met Mr. Google Ai, but I know a lot of Argentines who make well under a million pesos a month. Most work a couple of jobs. The quality of life has gone down, significantly, for them, in the last two years.
Its a fact that close to half of all Argentines make 500,000 pesos a month or LESS.
And its also a fact that everything costs more now than it did even six months ago, much less 2 years ago.
most people I know live in CABA, and its expensive to buy food, to eat pizza, to pay rent, to take the colectivo.

 

[MarshallE]

I never met Mr. Google Ai, but I know a lot of Argentines who make well under a million pesos a month. Most work a couple of jobs. The quality of life has gone down, significantly, for them, in the last two years.
Its a fact that close to half of all Argentines make 500,000 pesos a month or LESS.
And its also a fact that everything costs more now than it did even six months ago, much less 2 years ago.
most people I know live in CABA, and its expensive to buy food, to eat pizza, to pay rent, to take the colectivo.

500k pesos a month? Is this declared en blanco income? I'm sure a lot of folks get paid cash or work en negro and that won't show up in govt statistics

 

[SlowWalker]

500k pesos a month? Is this declared en blanco income? I'm sure a lot of folks get paid cash or work en negro and that won't show up in govt statistics

There are different surveys, here is one site that I have seen some reference. Bumeran Salary Survey Argentina
But to be honest, from some of the fields I am aware of, these salaries seem low.

There was another link of the salary pyramid in one of the threads a month ago. The average is definitely much higher than 500k.

 

[Ries]

ask people.
Of course some people wont tell you, but many people will.
ask the cleaning lady, the guy at the verduleria, the guy delivering on a moto.
Its also always interesting to ask people, how long does it take you to get to work, and how much does it cost every day?
The portero at our studio building usually spends close to 2 hours each way, every day, and its a couple thousand pesos per trip, all up.
He is union, so his base salary is higher - a portero who does not recieve housing earns a base salary of 1,000,000 pesos a month.
Thats a whopping $720 a month USD. which is why porteros really appreciate the occasional tip for heavy lifting or extra services.
Most commute a long ways from the conurbano to earn that cool million pesos.

 

[SlowWalker]

Here is an article of mining wages from yesterday.

Mining Wages

These are also typically not your home every night jobs though. You could be on rotations of 1 or 2 weeks on duty with about equal time off plus holidays etc.

 

[LuckyLuke]

Personally, I don't know anyone in Neuquen making these incredibly low salary numbers that some expats here toss around casually. Average rent here is $700,000 for a monoambiente. I own 4 units myself, briefly had one tenant take on a roommate to help him on his feet, until he found a place elsewhere. The roommate was from Missiones and at the time said he made enough working down here to pay bills and save money. That was a year ago.

Purchasing power has certainly declined, it has in a lot of currencies. But I think this idea that half the country is making poverty wages is wrong and does a disservice to the actual statistics. Last year I was told a Municipal worker in a small town in San Luis makes less than $400,000. Sounds awful, but a hotdog is $2,000 there. Here in Neuquen it's $8,000 (400% higher) and a municipal worker makes around $1.2M - $1.6M, which is also 400% more too. Everything is relative in price.

There are many people that are partially employed as well for different reasons: Child care, students, transport limitations, etc. They live with family that helps reduce their overhead costs and the value of their domestic labor contribution to the family isn't measured in these statistics. It costs $600,000 for a daycare here in Neuquen. That's a part time job down here. If the mother reduces their hours to care for the child at home and takes an alternating shift with the husband, is she now making "poverty wages"?

 

[Ries]

the starting wage for miners is 1.8 million pesos a month. Thats $1300 USD. The average miner salary in places like Australia or Canada, or western europe, is more like $80,000 to $120,000 a year. The ore sells for the same global price no matter what mine it comes from. Copper or Silver, per ounce or pound or kilo, is a global price.

I dont see how the idea that a skilled miner, a job category that only has around 30,000 employees in the whole 42 million person country, being $15k usd is a wonderful thing- its a very paltry wage, and its buying power in Argentina certainly doesnt allow you to buy a house, send your kids to DeTella, or even buy a car. Most families that make $15k US in argentina are lucky to own one 100cc moto for the entire household.

I know nothing about Neuquen, but online I read that it has the highest salaries in the country, due to those whopping $15k miners salaries.
I have travelled in the provinces a bit, in 4 or 5 different provinces, and am certainly no expert, but I have been in a bunch of little villages where people were not as rich as a miner. I visited a "town" in Santiago De Estero where most people cant even afford motos, and the certainly dont make no 15k.
The steel mill outside of Rosario was shut down by Arcelor because they thought the $1000/mo Usd salaries were too high. Most steel workers, globally, make 8 or ten times that much.

 

[SlowWalker]

Personally, I don't know anyone in Neuquen making these incredibly low salary numbers that some expats here toss around casually.

I agree with you.

It is free for people to publish anything they want online and push talking points whether they are real or not to advance their political beliefs or virtue signalling. It also makes it especially easy to argue points when one doesn't base themselves in reality. Again, I am not taking aim at you but those that keep pushing the idea that everyone is making 500k pesos a month or putting all the blame on the federal government and ignoring the role of provincial and municipal governments (both here or abroad).

the starting wage for miners is 1.8 million pesos a month. Thats $1300 USD. The average miner salary in places like Australia or Canada, or western europe, is more like $80,000 to $120,000 a year. The ore sells for the same global price no matter what mine it comes from. Copper or Silver, per ounce or pound or kilo, is a global price.

I dont see how the idea that a skilled miner, a job category that only has around 30,000 employees in the whole 42 million person country, being $15k usd is a wonderful thing- its a very paltry wage, and its buying power in Argentina certainly doesnt allow you to buy a house, send your kids to DeTella, or even buy a car. Most families that make $15k US in argentina are lucky to own one 100cc moto for the entire household.

I know nothing about Neuquen, but online I read that it has the highest salaries in the country, due to those whopping $15k miners salaries.
I have travelled in the provinces a bit, in 4 or 5 different provinces, and am certainly no expert, but I have been in a bunch of little villages where people were not as rich as a miner. I visited a "town" in Santiago De Estero where most people cant even afford motos, and the certainly dont make no 15k.
The steel mill outside of Rosario was shut down by Arcelor because they thought the $1000/mo Usd salaries were too high. Most steel workers, globally, make 8 or ten times that much.

1) Its interesting how you admit you don't know the industry, but you seem to argue against it pretty strong while also cherry picking the data and applying the lowest value across the industry. So I will help explain. And to be clear since tone is not conveyed well, I am not attacking you at all. I am honestly just trying to help inform you and others of how the industry works and supports local communities. This is also just my opinion and I can be 100% wrong.
2) The value of one's labour is not based on the value of the product but the value to replace that labour with someone else or robot/automation. Therefore, all around the world every job title doesn't earn the same salary. Salaries in Canada are lower than the US, similarly, salaries in Mexico are lower than Canada, and salaries in India/Bangladesh are lower than Mexico. This goes for doctors, engineers, computer programmers, construction workers and street vendors. It is not industry specific. This is typically a result of cost of living. When a house cost $10-100k vs $500-1M. However, as there are shortages of skills in some countries and people are mobile or they are able to provide services remotely, it is possible that costs for local talent rise to comparable levels of that in "higher paying countries". Overtime, as the flow of goods and services cross borders more, it tends to have the impact of raising the costs and also salaries of the lower nations reducing the gap.
3) Remuneration is composed of multiple things such as a base salary, bonuses, benefits, etc. Site bonuses are typically based on KPIs of safety, production, cash flow etc. These would be in addition to salary stated. They can be quite significant. Nevertheless, employees in Argentina, like the rest of the world, are not the investors that risk capital to construct a mine. They are not naturally entitled to the profits. Profit sharing may be legislated in countires and may be offered as incentives to employees to perform well on individual basis or as part of standard offering or collective bargaining agreements.
4) Due to the location of sites and their rotational nature, they also include room and board. So while those that have families may have some costs still while they are at work, single individuals do not need to heat/AC their homes and feed themselves half the time or while on shift.
5) The ranges indicated may also not be complete. They are based on 1 consultants estimates. Nevertheless, you have assumed the lowest salary is what is applicable to an entire mine site, When in reality that wage may be for a temporary contract worker without experience or a new hire.
6) Individuals in the industry are also able to afford new trucks/cars, buy houses, lots and build cottages out of the city to use for weekends, buy investment properties to rent out, etc. So your assumptions are wrong.
7) Regarding relative salaries to other countries, one also needs to consider whether productivity is equal as well or not.
8) When the projects are in construction phase there can be many thousands of employees on site at anytime, plus those in the shops, fabrication (welding and machine shops) and other local vendors/providers in nearby cities and towns or throughout the country. This will continue during operation but the number of direct employees is likely to be reduced. But still many mechanical and rebuild jobs can be performed in machine shops in towns and are supported by indirect labour (contractors on-site).
9) Due to the higher salaries of those working in the industry, the surrounding communities/cities where these people live benefit from higher disposable incomes. As mentioned cars, construction industries but also restaurants, clothing etc tend to do well as well as the service industry, house cleaners or nannies, car detailing services, beauty salons, etc.
10) The royalties are based off revenues so the provincial government gets the benefit of higher prices, and the taxes paid by the company are on their profits, so when the prices rise and they make more money i) so too does the government earn more tax revenues, and ii) it typically justifies extending the life of mines and projects to increase production/recovery which is a benefit of providing more jobs and longer lasting jobs which is typically the most important thing for a government. Governments typically care less about turning a profit as seen by almost every government in the world running deficits, but rather ensuring high employment and tax revenues for many many years. It also stabilizes foreign exchange markets (resources play a huge role in the strength and stability of currencies such as CAD, AUD, Chilean, Peruvian peso).
11) As per your suggestion that annual salaries for entry miners are $80-120k/y I think this is fairly high estimate. In some places 15-20 years ago when there was the boom in Western Australia or the Canadian Oil Sands, there salaries were quite high at the time, but they have also plateaued and not rose, where others finally got their raises during and post pandemic. Additionally, in many of these locations they have switched to autonomous trucks (No driver), remote controlled from another city, or in-situ recovery (no trucks required) therefore completely eliminating the role and salary or remote location premium. Let us say an entry truck driver or operator here is making $1500-2000USD/month, Entry level truck drivers or operators will probably be in the $55-80k USD/ annually or $4.6-6.7k USD/month range depending on location, shift, etc. Simiarly, where are steel mill workers making $80-120k USD/year? Based on 2024 from BLS (BLS Data for May 2024 for Industry: Iron and Steel Mills and Ferroalloy Manufacturing), In the Steel industry,Production technicians/operators salaries were: (Production Occupations (51-0000)) median wage was $56k, and 90th percentile was $86k, and Metal Works and Plastic Workers (51-4000) median wage was $52k and 90th percentile $83k. I don't think since 2024, there has been a raise of approx 60-100%. Respectively, the 25th percentile for both was $45k and 44k. If you include all roles industry wide, the median wage was $60k. Again they likely receive bonuses, insurance etc in addition. Also $1USD~ $1.38CAD or $1.43AUD. Taxes in Argentina are also lower than in many of those countries. US Household Median income was $71k in 2021, and $84k in 2024.
12) If you are unhappy with royalty or tax structure, that is a serparate topic (though I do believe RIGI rose the provincial maximum allowance from 3 to 5% and a 25% corporate tax rade is well inline or above western countries and some provinces have additional funds negotiated beyond just the royalty). If you are unhappy with foreign ownership, then domestic investors should be developing the resources. There are some, but others need the bigger players due to size of investment and therefore experience in developing projects of this size and ability to raise funding or fund from other operations. They also need to invest in the exploration phase to find the deposits otherwise I don't understand if you are expecting other countries and companies to fund the exploration (risk) phase, while then handing over and letting domestic investors control the benefitial and typically less risky phase.
13) I think every company has policies to support the domestic economy where they operate and therefore are purchasing from local vendors.That is plenty of money flowing through the economy that otherwise would not be, can easily be hundreds of millions or more than a billion dollars a year per site.
14) If its benefitial to have mining and resource industries in other countries, then why would it not be benefitial here?