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

[carride]

Chevron has a partnership with YPF, an Argentine energy company and has secondee assignments with the corporation.

• Secondee assignment to YPF located in Neuquén City.
• Secondee assignment to YPF located in the Loma Campana Field.
  • Note that the field is a 2 hour commute each way, so much of the expatriate’s time is spent commuting.

https://hr2.chevron.com/expatriate/latin-america/neuquen

 

[steveinbsas]

I never met Mr. Google Ai, but I know a lot of Argentines...

You may have never met Mr. Google AI, but he already appears to know at least this much about you (obviously, all good):

"Ries is a top-ranked, long-term member and active contributor on the BAexpats.org community forum, noted for having one of the highest reaction scores among users.

Based on their posts, Ries is an experienced expat living in Buenos Aires with knowledge of home renovations, such as installing heat pumps/mini-splits.

Key details about Ries from BAexpats:

Active Member: Ranked among the top members for high reaction scores (over 5,000) and high post counts, making them a well-known voice on the forum.

Experience: Has lived in Buenos Aires for over 15 years,, including managing property renovations.

Content: Offers practical advice on living in Argentina, particularly on topics like climate control/HVAC, based on personal experience with renovations."

 

[LuckyLuke]

Interbanking, which handles transactions for over 5 million bank accounts publishes statistics on average salaries, such as this below:

Of course, statistics are a complicated subject. Are we talking the average as a median or mean? If we are talking about banked transactions, we can assume these are sueldos en blanco, which likely represents a higher earning average wage segment. It's impossible to measure the true merit of any broad statistic without understanding the methodology behind each.

Nevertheless you can see broad differences between Provincias depending on the relative cost of living.

 

[FrankPintor]

Are we now taking Neuquén as a reference for the entire country? Or even any other part of Argentina? I would suggest Neuquén is more like Nigeria, or any other petro-state, with all that implies (exaggerated costs and salaries, inadequate infrastructure, lack of housing, and so on).

 

[LuckyLuke]

Are we now taking Neuquén as a reference for the entire country? Or even any other part of Argentina? I would suggest Neuquén is more like Nigeria, or any other petro-state, with all that implies (exaggerated costs and salaries, inadequate infrastructure, lack of housing, and so on).

You're right, we certainly shouldn't. It's really a different world when you consider that even the salaries represented are not including salary package benefits. As @SlowWalker mentioned, oil workers here get stipends for food, free lodging, company trucks, and even free private schooling for children. It would add even more to the average salary were the cost of those to be included.

The chart nevertheless casts doubt on the purported $500k or $750k figure that the "majority" of the country supposedly makes. It's my personal belief that, regardless of the Provincia's respective average earnings, most are probably allocating 50-60% of their take home to rent. While this is not a great situation, it's what I recall having to personally pay in Los Angeles as well. The fact that other fixed expenses such as utilities, prepagas, car insurance, etc. are rising in step leaves little explanation required for the falling consumption.

The PJ party would have you solve this by resorting to inflationary subsidies, interventionist price caps, rent controls and excessive CEPO parallel exchange rates.

From what I've gathered from Milei's team, they are encouraging foreign investments to shore up foreign reserves in the hopes that it will provide a more robust and accessible private credit market. The idea being that private credit will allow PYMEs to domestically invest and generate greater employment. Those complaining that Milei just wants a resource exploited caste to concentrate wealth are missing the larger picture. It's a two step process that could provide much more tangible results with less inflation.

 

[carride]

You're right, we certainly shouldn't. It's really a different world when you consider that even the salaries represented are not including salary package benefits. As @SlowWalker mentioned, oil workers here get stipends for food, free lodging, company trucks, and even free private schooling for children. It would add even more to the average salary were the cost of those to be included.

Those salary package “benefits” are the only way to keep the workers. Typical for many who have ever had to travel or relocate at the request of the employer. To offset the conditions of the place, plus the 2 hours each way commute that is required as mentioned in this recruiting we page:

Post in thread 'Wages have fallen 20% since 2018, worst drop in the region'
https://baexpats.org/threads/wages-...18-worst-drop-in-the-region.50130/post-471396

 

[Ries]

My question is- do the ypf attendents in neuquen get paid double what they get elsewhere? the beat cops? the plumbers, the verduleria guys?
Because everywhere else in the country, a ypf attendent (not an oil pipeline mechanic, of which there are probably 5% as many as guys who pump your gas) get paid around a million to a million and a half pesos a month.
Most police starting salaries are under 2 million a month, with, obviously, the rural ones and small cities in the provincias at the low end.
Day laborers, truck drivers, store clerks, delivery drivers, factory workers, especially if non-union, are largely a million pesos or less a month, pretty much everywhere.
(except maybe Neuquen, where, I hear, the streets are paved with gold)

again- ask people, ordinary people, not mining engineers, what they make.
it aint much.

 

[FrankPintor]

Well, in PBA at a private school, I can tell you that a teacher makes around 600k Pesos for a 5-hour (no breaks) shift. A bit more if replacements for missing teachers are available. I'd say @Ries is right.

 

[Ries]

Another data point- I have several friends who are tenured professors at UBA, and they make around 1.5 million pesos a month.
Most university professors at public universities here have at least one other job, sometimes more.
I know one friend who is often working at 3 different universities.
I have another friend who commutes between Tucuman and Catamarca every week, as she teaches at both universities to make ends meet.
I also know several university professors who have full time jobs besides being a professor.

 

[LuckyLuke]

My question is- do the ypf attendents in neuquen get paid double what they get elsewhere? the beat cops? the plumbers, the verduleria guys?
Because everywhere else in the country, a ypf attendent (not an oil pipeline mechanic, of which there are probably 5% as many as guys who pump your gas) get paid around a million to a million and a half pesos a month.
Most police starting salaries are under 2 million a month, with, obviously, the rural ones and small cities in the provincias at the low end.
Day laborers, truck drivers, store clerks, delivery drivers, factory workers, especially if non-union, are largely a million pesos or less a month, pretty much everywhere.
(except maybe Neuquen, where, I hear, the streets are paved with gold)

again- ask people, ordinary people, not mining engineers, what they make.
it aint much.

It's hard to say, I think it really is on a case by case employer. Neuquen, as a "zona desfavorable" typically get between 20% y 40% high wages than CABA.

I have a friend who is a Municipal worker and gets paid $900k for a half day shift, so $1.8 Million full time.

One of my tenants is a private school teacher who last year was making $1.6M monthly. It's likely gone up since then.

My wife has two siblings who are public school teachers here and they make about $1.2 - $1.5 million per shift, depending on seniority. That's $2.8M - $3M monthly.

One of the guys working with me at a property was a beat cop in Neuquen provincia for 30 odd years. His pension pays him 3 million monthly. His obra social is quite generous compared to my Swiss Medical plan.

My neighbor worked in Oil for 30+ years and receives a similar pension. Though he will tell you with a straight face that it's a small sum for the sacrifice of living on a derrick. At one point they were flying him on charter planes to the oil sites to avoid traffic. He does get obra social and other perks from the union such as paid annual vacations.

The plumbers and electricians I hire are not what I would call cheap. My gasista charged $900k for piping and installing 1 heater. A plumber charges me $150k just to unclog a sewage pipe. My electrician charges $250k for an A/C install. These guys are handling multiple jobs at these prices. They are easily clearing 2 million monthly.

I wouldn't say that any of the above is wealth really, it gets people by here.