Javier Milei’s government began with a devaluation and a surge in prices which led to a striking drop in the purchasing power of formal salaries with social security contributions in December.
They have risen just a third as fast as inflation has risen. They increased by 8.3% against inflation of 25.5%. It represents a loss of purchasing power in a single month of 13.7%, according to the RIPTE (Taxable Salary of Permanent Workers) prepared by the Secretary of Social Security, which includes 10 million formal workers in the public and private sectors.
RIPTE considers the wages for jobs in the private sector and in the national, provincial and municipal public sector who have transferred their pension funds to SIPA-ANSeS, as clarified by the Secretary.
The RIPTE (or INDEC Salary Index) is one of the variables that is taken into consideration for the calculation of pension mobility together with the evolution of the tax collection that goes to Social Security, discounting the increase in the ranking of beneficiaries. For this reason, in the month of March, the increase in pensions, pensions and other social security benefits will be well below inflation because we consider the evolution of these variables in the months of October, November and December compared to inflation between December and February of 80%.
It is assumed that the fall in real formal wages continued in January because the REM (Market Expectations Survey) estimated inflation at around 21.9% with wages that moved little due to increases in some parities.
The December wage drop accentuated the wage decline seen over the course of last year. AS, 2023 He closed with an average salary that went from $194,175.11 in December 2022 to $484,298.40 in the same month in 2023. This represents an increase of 149.4% against inflation of 211.4%. That’s a 20% drop.
The gross taxable salary of $484,198.40 is less than the value of the family poverty basket, which for a couple with 2 minor children was estimated by INDEC at $495,798.32.
This explains the increase in workers with formal employment and social security contributions living in poor households.
In 2022, formal salaries increased by 89.3% against inflation of 98.4%.
Compared to the end of 2015, the RIPTE accumulates a loss of over 30%, of which 20 points correspond to the government of Mauricio Macri and 10 points to that of Alberto Fernández and now we add this autumn of December and certainly also that of January. .
These data take into account the salaries paid and declared by companies to Social Security.
However, the Ministry of Labor clarifies that “RIPTEs do not necessarily reflect the evolution of wages in the registered private sector” (but mark a trend) fundamentally because the wages are those corresponding to jobs with an age equal to or greater than 13 months. That is, the remuneration of new jobs is excluded and only the components taxable to the social security system are considered.
Source: Clarin
