In April, wages outpaced monthly inflation for the first time since August 2023, according to statistics published by INDEC. In the fourth month of the year, prices rose by 8.8% while the general wage index increased by 10.2%. This is one of the few instances in recent years in which wages grew faster than inflation.
According to Chequeado’s accumulated inflation calculator, inflation from January 2017 to April 2024 is 5724.36%. According to Luis Campos, Researcher at the Institute of Studies and Training of the CTA – Autónoma, during that period real wages suffered a decline of more than 30%.
Although compared to the interannual measurement and the accumulated measurement of the first four months of the year, salaries continue to lag behind inflation, the distance has been shortened. In the last year, salaries rose 213.6% against a CPI of 289%, while in the first four months of 2024 the figures were 60.3% and 65%, respectively.
There is a disparity between the employment areas that registered increases in April: in the private sector the increase is 12%, while in the public sector it is 7.5% and in the unregistered private sector it is 7.8%. It is important to bear in mind that the data for the unregistered sector is about five months behind, as experts say, given that, as it is part of the informal economy, there is no official data.
The decline in purchasing power during the first four months of the year was 13.5%. It is therefore not surprising that, according to the Chamber of Commerce, consumption fell by 2.2% monthly and 7.7% year-on-year in May.
Furthermore, an official statement from the Office of the President on June 10 had projected that April would see a “16.1% increase in wages,” which would have meant wage growth almost double that of inflation.
