While Javier Milei promises top-tier wages by 2027, official data tells a different story: real wages continue to fall, and the reconfiguration of the labor market is the key to the adjustment. A report from Banco Provincia, based on figures from INDEC and the Ministry of Human Capital, reveals that the 6% loss of purchasing power between 2023 and 2026 is not a matter of chance, but a direct consequence of the libertarian economic program.
According to the study, the 6% decline is not solely explained by wage negotiations lagging behind inflation. There is a more sinister factor: the destruction of jobs in high-wage sectors—such as mining, finance, industry, and transportation—which was only partially offset by the creation of jobs in lower-paying sectors, such as commerce and education. This phenomenon accounts for nearly a quarter of the decline in real wages over the past three years.
“If the incidence of different sectors in job creation had remained constant between 2023 and 2026, the decline in real private registered wages would have been 4.5% instead of the actual 6%,” states the report coordinated by Matías Rajnerman, head of Macroeconomics at Banco Provincia. In other words, the change in employment composition cost workers an additional 1.5% of purchasing power.
The diagnosis clashes head-on with the promise Milei repeated this week: “Enormous wages and starting to be in the league of big countries.” But the reality is that the model generates three anomalies: GDP growth combined with destruction of registered employment, falling real wages, and declining investment. In the first quarter of 2026, GDP was 5% above 2023 levels, but investment was 11% below.
“The increased share of sectors with below-average wages in the labor market means that it is not enough for wage negotiations to outpace inflation to recover the purchasing power of 2023,” the report warns. To return to 2023 levels, not only would wage negotiations need to exceed inflation, but the more precarious sectors would have to grow above average to compensate for the composition effect.
And the future does not look brighter. Nearly half of the sectors that have grown compared to 2023 have destroyed jobs in the last three years: mining, finance, and “other services.” This indicates that job destruction is not only due to the fact that the losing sectors of the model are the ones that generate the most employment, but that there is a structural pattern.
“The deterioration of investment will have more effects in the future than in the present,” the report warns. With a lower capital stock, the economy will face complications in sustaining growth. The rise in interest rates in the second half of last year made credit more expensive, made productive projects less profitable, and discouraged medium-term spending.
In summary, the fall in wages is not an unintended consequence of the stabilization plan: it is a key piece of the libertarian puzzle. While Milei dreams of enormous wages, the numbers show a model that makes employment precarious, destroys investment, and sinks the purchasing power of Argentines. The question is: how long can the people endure?
Para mí esto huele a lloriqueo de zurdos porque se les terminó la joda. Milei está limpiando la mugre sindical y los ñoquis que choreaban. Yo creo que prefiero laburar en negro que bancar a estos vagos. Viva la libertad carajo!
para mi milei es un lacayo de los ricos nos quiere esclavizar a todos los salarios caen porque su plan es hambrear al pueblo mientras los empresarios se llenan los bolsillos viva la lucha obrera fuera capitalistas 🔥