Argentine wages trail inflation

Argentine wages trail inflation

Clothing and Footwear went up 9.9% in August

Salaries in Argentine rose 6.5% on average in August 2022, the National Institute of Statistics and Census (Indec) reported Monday. According to these figures, incomes were below the 7% inflation rate for the same month.

In July, the difference between wages and inflation was 1.9%, so the gap between both indicators has now widened to 5%.

The monthly average stems from increases of 8.1% in the registered private sector, 4.2% in the public sector, and 5.4% in the unregistered private sector, according to Indec, whose document also showed earnings had gone up 74.2% year-on-year for interannual inflation of 78.5 %, while wages went up 51.0% with respect to the previous December, while inflation in that period was 56.4%.

On an interannual basis, the Wage Index showed an increase of 74.2%, as a consequence of increases of 76.5% in the registered private sector, 76.4% in the public sector, and 63.4% in the non-registered private sector.

By August 2022, the Wage Index accumulated an increase of 51.0% with respect to December of the previous year, due to increases of 55.0% in the registered private sector, 51.3% in the public sector, and 38.8% in the non-registered private sector.

Data for non-registered workers between September 2020 and May 2022 was based on the survey of the Permanent Household Survey (EPH), carried out during the second quarter of 2020 and fourth quarter of 2021, which has been affected by the restrictions of social, preventive, and mandatory isolation, known as ASPO.

The Wage Index calculates the evolution of wages by isolating the index from other considerations such as the number of hours worked, deductions, productivity bonuses, and other concepts associated with the worker’s performance.

In August, Clothing and Footwear went up 9.9%, followed by Miscellaneous Goods and Services (8.7%), and Household Equipment and Maintenance (8.4%).

Also going up were Healthcare Insurance (5.7%); Utilities (5.5%); Communications (4.1%) and Transportation (6.8%).