Registered employment in productive units across Argentina contracted by 276,624 jobs between November 2023 and August 2025, according to a new report by the CEPA (Centro de Economía Política Argentina) economic think tank.
The study calculates a fall of 2.81 percent in registered employment since the Javier Milei government took office on December 10, 2023 – equivalent to a daily loss of 432 jobs.
The total number of registered workers dropped from 9,857,173 in November 2023 to 9,580,549 in August 2025.
Job loss by sector
Public administration and defence saw the steepest decline, shedding 86,982 positions during the first 21 months of libertarian rule. Construction followed with 76,292 jobs lost. Transport services and storage dropped 59,838 workers and the manufacturing sector declined by 55,941.
Construction was hit hardest in relative terms, with a 16 percent fall in registered workers. Transport services and storage contracted 11.2 percent and artistic, cultural, sporting and leisure activities shrank 7.1 percent over the same period.
CEPA analysed the evolution of employers and workers since Milei’s 2023 run-off victory, using the latest available data from the Superintendencia de Riesgos del Trabajo (SRT), which regulates workplace risk within the social security system.
Nearly 30 companies disappear daily
The number of registered employers fell from 512,357 to 493,193 in the first 21 months of the administration, a rate of almost 30 companies disappearing each day. CEPA described this as a “negative trend in the business fabric” spanning from November 2023 to August 2025.
Transport services and storage again led losses, with 4,685 employers closing. Wholesale and retail trade, as well as vehicle repair, lost 3,510 employers. Real-estate services fell by 2,952, professional and technical services by 2,053, manufacturing by 1,974 and construction by 1,790.
In relative terms, transport and storage recorded the largest drop in employer numbers at 11.9 percent. Services of extraterritorial organisations fell 10.8 percent, real-estate services 9.9 percent and construction 8.2 percent.
The CEPA report highlights that companies with fewer than 500 workers account for 99.63 percent of the total decline in employer numbers, equivalent to 19,094 firms. Large employers with more than 500 workers represent just 0.37 percent of the reduction, or 70 firms. Even so, employer numbers in the larger category fell at a slightly quicker pace, down 3.88 percent compared with a 3.74 percent fall among smaller firms.
Biggest job losses concentrated in large companies
Taking into account the loss of registered employment by company size, CEPA found that large firms bear most of the losses.
By contrast, companies with more than 500 workers account for 68.15 percent of the decline, equivalent to 188,525 jobs. Firms with fewer than 500 workers shed 88,099 jobs, or 31.85 percent of the total.
This corresponds to a 3.94 percent drop in employment in large companies, from 4,782,973 to 4,594,448 workers. Smaller firms reduced their payrolls by 1.74 percent, from 5,074,200 to 4,986,101.
CEPA concludes that the period shows “a marked regression in key indicators of formal employment, with significant falls in both the number of employers and the volume of registered work.”
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