THE five blocks in a row of unemployed and informal people looking for work in a shopping center in Nordelta, which Clarín reported on Friday, is an even more pressing reality, according to recent official data from INDEC.
The thing is more than 4.4 million people are “actively” looking for a job in urban areas: 1.3 million because they are unemployed and 3.1 million because, despite being employed, they look for another job, dissatisfied with what they have.
The data correspond to a broader measurement of the INDEC, which covers the total urban population of the country (42.3 million inhabitants and 19.6 million working population). And they show the huge level of pressure of labor demand first a more than limited offerwhich favors the informality and precariousness of work.
After high levels due to the recession in 2018 and 2019, and in 2020 due to the outbreak of the pandemic and activity restrictions, urban unemployment fell to 6.7% in the third quarter of 2022. There are 1,309,000 unemployed.
They are people “who, having no job, are actively looking for work and are available to work. It corresponds to open unemployment”, according to the INDEC definition.
Meanwhile, the report also highlights this Of the 18,307,000 employed, 3,108,000 are looking for another job because they are willing to work longer hours or improve their salary or job situation.
This concept includes various forms of job precariousness, such as people performing temporary jobs while actively looking for work or involuntarily working less than normal hours, employed in jobs below the minimum wage or their personal or family needs or in positions below their qualification, among others.
According to specialists, one of the reasons for jobseekers to find another job is due to the decrease in real wages. And at informal work.
Out of 12,841,000 urban wage earners, 4,927,000 work “without a pension discount”, according to INDEC data. They are 38.3% of the total.
In 2022, formal wages recorded a 90.4% increase against 94.8% inflation, with the largest decline among informal wage earners, according to INDEC data. Compared to 2017, wages accumulate a 23.4% loss, with a greater decline in informal workers who experience higher levels of both destitution and poverty.
15.4% of those who have a regular job are poorwhile among informal wage earners (without pension discount) poverty arises to 47.3%.
Therefore, despite the recovery of activity, the higher level of employment and the fall in unemployment, these indicators are the consequence of the fact that there has been no recovery in real wages, which have accumulated 5 years of decline.
Several provinces stand out among those employed looking for other employment where more than 20% of the working population.
It is the case of Tucuman (29.2%), Jujuy (23.7%), meanness (23.1%), Cordoba (23%) and La Rioja (21.3%).
With single digits, Misiones (8.7%), Formosa (9.5%), Chubut (9.7%) and Rio Negro (9.9%) stand out.
In the city of Buenos Aires it is 10.4% (167,000 employed) and in the Province of Buenos Aires 15.7% (1,274,000 employed).
In the province of Córdoba, between unemployed and employed job seekers, 29.5% of the active population is looking for work. There are 494,000 people out of an active population of the Province of 1,674,000.
Source: Clarin
