2022 was the year in which the number of Argentine workers who provide services abroad -with the aim of capitalizing their income at the best exchange rate-, increased considerably and it was consolidated.
The export of services through remote work in Argentina is a labor trend that grew from the pandemic and far from having an expiration date with the “return to normality”, it was strongly consolidated in the last year, being the country with the highest rate of teleworking in the region, according to a report by SherlockHR and Computrabajo.
Argentine exports of the so-called “knowledge industry” also grew by more than 23%, according to INDEC data. In this context, from Bitwage, the platform for payment of fees in cryptocurrencies and digital dollars, reported that during 2022 the record of new Argentine users was registered, doubling the great mark that they had already had during 2021, and they shared some points in consideration of what remote work represents in Argentina.
Advantages and disadvantages of being a freelancer
Being a freelancer means being a worker who independently provides services to one or more clients. Most do it remotely, with a laptop from the comfort of their homes or from anywhere in the world.
The traditional format of the dependency relationship proposes a fixed salary at the end of the month, medical coverage, bonuses and equipment expenses (computer, office expenses, connectivity, electricity, water, gas), but this new labor trend brings with it new benefits such as an employment relationship with greater freedom of conditionsflexible hours, no fixed office, no daily transfers, work by objective.
An Argentine service exporter earns between US$3,000 and US$5,000 per month
It also comes with new disadvantages such as time differences, and the difficulty of achieving a break and disconnecting. But these cons are appeased when the worker manages to export his services abroad where the income in foreign currency for an Argentine could mean tripling or quadrupling income.
Carol Franco, an Argentine programmer who provides services abroad from her home, commented that for a year she has been working as a freelancer from Argentina providing web programming services for different companies in the United States and Bali. In her opinion, this change allowed her to have a better life quality because you can work from home and manage your time without suffering so much from the inflation that the country is going through where fixed salaries are far behind.
“My recommendation for all those who want to export services is that, in addition to a good command of English, they start small to understand the dynamics and thus add clients. Many wonder what to do later to get paid for the work done,” he explained. .
At present, exports of services constitute an extremely interesting source of value generation due to the creation of jobs and the income of foreign currency. In the case of the Argentine service industry -informatics and programming, professional services, design, etc.-, according to a Bitwage review of official records, it has exported a total of US$7.261 million per year as of June 2022, its main destinations being the US and the European Union, and resulting as the second export complex in the country, only surpassed by the oilseed-cereal.
“In addition, according to INDEC data, in the last year Argentine exports of the so-called “knowledge industry” registered a growth of more than 23%,” they added.
According to Ramiro Raposo, Country Manager of Bitwage, Argentina is the country that grew the most in Latam in the last year with a 250% increase in new users and 350% in payment orders processed, being the 3rd country with the highest volume of turnover of the world, Cointelegraph noted.
This company that was a pioneer in the payment of fees in cryptocurrencies -was born even before the creation of Ethereum-, gives other guidelines. “The average remuneration of an Argentine service exporter is around US$3,000 reaching payments of up to US$5,000 per month,” said Raposo.
In this sense, says Raposo, the majority are from the IT sector: programmers, system engineers, developers, devs, project managers, coders, designers, etc. But other sectors are also growing, such as athletes, marketing consultants, translators, psychologists, and English teachers. “A fact that stands out is the increase in women that provide services abroad, while in 2019 transactions of 1 or 2 women were registered, today 1 out of 4 users is a woman,” he added.
LinkedIn, Freelancer, Upwork, Weremoto, Guru and Computrabajo are some platforms to look for work
On the other hand, an interesting fact is that there is also a trend of national companies looking for foreign professionals. “There is a growth in the rate of companies that hire internationally and pay through our platform in Argentina. Without a doubt, hiring talent is no longer limited to the country where a company’s headquarters are located. If a company wants to access the best talent, there should no longer be borders and the numbers of our growth show it,” says Raposo.
Where to look for work abroad?
From Bitwage, they have indicated the following pages to apply for jobs abroad and earn in dollars: LinkedIn, Freelancer, Upwork, Weremoto, Guru, Computrabajo, Boomerang and StreamIn.
That said, according to the Argenconomics report in Argentina there is another marked trend that indicates the opening of job searches throughout the national territory. “The popularization of the habit of teleworking accelerated the remote job recruitment. Several provincial governments launched intense plans to activate the local knowledge economy, seeking to establish digital employment in their territories”, they maintain and point out that this initiative for the growth of the sector is also promoted by the national government with various programs such as Argentina Program 4.0 presented in the second semester of 2022 which sought to train 70,000 new professionals per year.
How to collect in dollars in Argentina working abroad?
Finally, regarding this point, in a country where the gap between the official and unofficial dollars does not stop growing, how to charge and how much to calculate what is agreed in foreign currency with the employer brings a lot of uncertainty. Bitwage workers point out that to this is added the government stocks on the purchase of currency, export withholdings and the great doubt: the declaration of money. So what should be done with the dollars you earn from work?
Today there are specialist lawyers and accountants who can advise on the various collection methods that are much simpler than most imagine, such as Luciano Pascual @loop142 who usually organizes Twitter Spaces talking about all these issues together with other “crypto accountants and lawyers” who assures that cryptocurrencies are the great solution to this dilemma. “We have to get rid of the fear of charging in cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. It is a global trend and in Argentina it is a great solution to safeguard the value of our work. And for this reason, more and more accountants are trained to advise on the subject for able to do it”, encourages Pascual.
