5,000 People for 400 Jobs: The Hunger Line at Almagro Job Fair

This Thursday, the fifth edition of the Neighborhood Job Fair in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Almagro left an image that is a slap in the face to reality: more than 5,000 registered applicants fought for just 400 job openings offered by 20 companies. Thirteen applicants per vacancy. The entry line, which wrapped around the block, was a thermometer of desperation: professionals unemployed for six months or a year, mixed with kids looking for their first job.

Crónica TV walked the line of applicants and collected chilling testimonies. Nico, 25, from Devoto, said he left his last job at McDonald’s two months ago because the workday was exhausting: ‘I worked double shifts, more than seven hours a day, even on weekends. Even so, at the end of the month I couldn’t earn 900,000 pesos. Today I’m looking for anything, whether in customer service or cleaning. In the meantime, I get by doing tattoos and haircuts so I don’t have to touch my credit card.’

A former worker at the Casa de la Moneda, fired in April and now in litigation, described the gutting of his sector: ‘From a union of 247 graphic employees, only six of us remained. I was fired in April and I’m in court. While I look for work in logistics or security, I survive by reselling household items with my family and taking an air conditioning course, but the situation is very difficult: my severance pay is running out and I can no longer pay the bills.’

Agustín, 25, from Ciudad Evita, has been looking for stable work for seven months: ‘In gastronomy, I worked a lot informally as a waiter or dishwasher, but it’s a very exploited field. I’ve been offered as little as 600,000 pesos a month working Monday to Saturday all day. To start, today I’d be satisfied with 900,000 pesos. While my family supports me at home, I’m training in free welding and barista courses to learn a trade.’

Tomás Galoto, 27, arrived from Goya, Corrientes, last week: ‘There, work is scarce and salaries don’t exceed 400,000 pesos for eight-hour days. I’m aiming to get something in sales or customer service with a salary of one million pesos to cover rent and food. I’m currently paying 700,000 pesos for temporary rent, so I need to get a job no matter what to avoid ending up on the street.’

The initiative, organized by the Undersecretariat of Labor and Employment of the City Government, seeks to directly connect unemployed residents with companies that have concrete vacancies. The mechanism is by prior registration: those who signed up through official channels received an appointment to show up at the meeting point. It is not a fair open to the public, but a selection process that begins as soon as the applicant walks through the door.

The searches were oriented toward services, health, commerce, logistics, customer service, security, gastronomy, and administration. Among the participating companies were Randstad, Blue Star Group – owner of TodoModa and Isadora -, ALPI, the Palermo Hippodrome, and Georgia. The organization also reserved a specific segment for applicants over 45, a group that often faces additional barriers in selection processes.

The Buenos Aires Minister of Justice, Gabino Tapia, noted that the fair responds to ‘a decision by the head of government, Jorge Macri, to continue implementing public policies that bring concrete opportunities to residents.’ The Undersecretary of Labor and Employment, Horacio Bueno, stated that the event ‘facilitates a direct link and accelerates access to employment.’

The image of thousands of applicants in Almagro is not an isolated event. According to INDEC, the unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2026 stood at 7.8%, equivalent to 1.72 million Argentines without work. The number fell just 0.1 percentage points compared to the same period in 2025, a variation that the agency itself describes as statistically marginal.

Behind that slight percentage improvement, the absolute numbers tell a different story: the number of unemployed grew by 81,074 people compared to the previous quarter and by 15,343 compared to the same period last year. The drop in the rate is explained by the growth of the economically active population, which increased by 1.73%, above the increase in the total population (1.02%). Simply put: more people are looking for work, not necessarily more work available.

Informal employment reached 44.2%, an increase of 2.2 percentage points compared to the first quarter of 2025. In one year, registered employment fell by 32,211 positions, while informal employment grew by 403,758. The market generates more employment, but increasingly less with the backing of formal employment: pension contributions, health insurance, and contractual stability.

The stories from the line coincide with that diagnosis: odd jobs, reselling, courses, and work outside the formal agreement as a bridge until securing something formal.

In the City of Buenos Aires, unemployment stood at 7.9%, with 136,500 people without work compared to 132,000 a year earlier. The southern zone concentrated the highest level, at 10.8%, while the northern zone recorded the lowest, at 4.4%.

Self-employment advanced strongly: 350,500 people developed activities under this modality, 8.4% more than a year earlier, and the self-employed now represent 22% of total employed.

Underemployment also rose: 11.1% of the economically active population worked fewer hours than they wanted, 1.1 percentage points more than the previous year. In the City, 30.6% of employed people worked less than 35 hours per week, and odd jobs – positions of less than 16 hours – represented 9.7%, compared to 8.2% in the first quarter of 2025.

The line in Almagro is the mirror of an Argentina that cannot seem to get going. While officials congratulate themselves on the ‘direct connection’ between companies and applicants, thousands of people continue to wait for a decent job that never comes.