What does it mean to work if the system acts as if you don't exist? a boy or girl in their twenties who wakes up early, works all day, and still has no vacations, no ART, and no contributions for when they are old. They work, yes, but without formally existing in any protection system. That is youth labor informality in Argentina, and the numbers describe it with a coldness that is frightening.
According to data from the Permanent Household Survey of INDEC for the third quarter of 2024, 45.1% of employed youth are informal wage earners, compared to 22.2% among adults. If we add in self-employed non-professional workers, freelancers without training or network, the figure rises to 62.4%. Almost two out of three young people who work do so outside the labor law.
"By not being registered, young people do not have access to retirement contributions, health coverage, or labor licenses, which reinforces structural inequality."
— Bárbara Perrot, ILO Argentina
Unemployment exacerbates the situation: among those aged 14 to 29, the unemployment rate was 13.1% at the end of 2024, compared to 4.5% for adults aged 30 to 64. If we narrow the age range to 15–24 years, which the ILO uses for international comparisons, the number rises to 19.4%. The global average was 13%; the regional average was 13.6%. Argentina is well above this.
The sectors that concentrate this informality are not the most dynamic or the best paid. Among young men, commerce, construction, and industry prevail. Among women, commerce, teaching, and domestic work, the latter with an informality rate of almost 77%. These are the same sectors that absorb labor without requiring credentials, but also without offering stability.
There is one statistic that particularly challenges those who think in terms of social mobility: 43% of young people from low-income neighborhoods worked for the first time before turning 15, and 90% of those jobs are informal. It is not a gateway to the formal system that later opens. For many, informality is the only door that exists, and it leads nowhere.
The educational system does not compensate for this. According to Argentinos por la Educación, 90% of students do not finish high school on time. Unlike countries like Germany or Denmark, Argentina does not have a dual education system that combines technical training with practice in companies. The result is a huge gap between what the market demands and what young people can offer: according to IDEA, 94% of companies detect a deficit in both technical and social skills when hiring.
The paradox that emerges is uncomfortable: there are young people looking for work and companies that cannot find profiles. The problem is not just the number of jobs available, but the quality of those that exist and the almost non-existent bridges between school and the labor market.
What remains at the end of the day is a generation that is not outside the system due to laziness or lack of desire. They are outside because the system did not include them. And the question that no one seems to answer is how much longer this can last without political, social, and economic costs for everyone.
Comments