Friday April 28, 2023 | 4:51 p.m.
The Wage Index increased 6% during February, driven by a 7.1% rise in the income of unregistered workers, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec) reported today.
In addition, during February, the salaries of registered private workers increased 6.9% and those of state employees 3.8%, the latter being below the inflation rate for the second month of the year, which was 6.6%.
In the first two months of the year, the income of private workers increased 11.8%, those of the public 7.9%, and the unregistered 14.3%, which left the index at 11% compared to a inflation of 13.1%.
In the last 12 months, the salaries of registered private workers increased 99.3%, those of public employees 104.2%, and those of “black” workers 80.5%, which marked a rise in index of 97.4% against interannual inflation in February of 102.5%, according to INDEC.
#DataINDEC
The wage index rose 6% in February 2023 compared to the previous month and 97.4% year-on-year pic.twitter.com/o9eY7ttMa6— INDEC Argentina (@INDECArgentina) April 28, 2023
As of Monday, the Government will increase the non-taxable minimum of Income Tax so that as of May all those workers who earn up to $503,000 of gross salary are exempted, as a way of improving purchasing power.
In mid-April, and after INDEC reported that inflation had reached 7.7% in March, the Minister of Labor, Raquel “Kelly” Kismer de Olmos, assured that “there is no loss” of purchasing power in the formal salary of the public and private sectors against rising prices.
“As of March 31, it maintains the purchasing power of December 31,” Olmos said in statements to AM 750.
For the minister, inflation of 7.7% was “the product of a structural situation of shortage of foreign currency generated by the conditions in which the Government was received plus everything that went through, now sharply exacerbated by the drought.”
