The libertarian government has made a series of economic decisions oriented to fiscal stabilization, public spending control and investment attraction. Although these measures have not been exempt from controversy, the latest official data shows positive results: Poverty is in free fall and formal employment reaches historical levels in the country.
This improvement is perceived in multiple indicators and marks a turning point regarding the situation that Milei found when assuming.
Poverty drops accelerated in 2025
The data that has generated more expectation in the Argentine economy – with the permission of inflation – is already official. The National Institute of Statistics and Census (INDEC) has revealed that poverty in the urban population of Argentina stood in the 38.1% in the second semester of 2024which was a collapse of 14.8 percentage points Regarding the rate recorded in the first half of the year, which had reached an alarming 52.9%. This pronounced fall is the largest registered since 2003.
The effect of macroeconomic stabilization
This decline in poverty is due in large part to the recovery of the real economy, the creation of employment and the growth of real wages, once the effect of inflation is discounted.
In fact, the real wages are already more than 3% above the previous levels Upon the arrival of Javier Milei to the Casa Rosada. All this has configured a virtuous circle between growth, employment and poverty reduction.
In addition, the indigence index has also shown a remarkable improvement, standing at 8.2% during the second semester, which represents a decrease in 9.9 percentage points Regarding the first half of last year.
In interannual terms, poverty fell 3.6 points and homelessness, 3.7 points. Despite these advances, poverty among children under 14 is still high, reaching the 51,9%and the destitution in that group 11,5%.
Employment in historical maximums
One of the most celebrated by the Government has been the increase in registered employment. According to official figures, Argentina reached 13,596 million employed, the maximum of the entire historical series initiated in 2016.
The strengthening of the macroeconomic environment has allowed many sectors Investment projects reactivate. This has had an immediate effect on the labor market. The employment rate, which measures the proportion of occupied people in relation to the total population, increased to the 45,7%while the activity rate reached 48,8% between October and December 2024.
The unemployment rate also showed a positive behavior, standing in 6.4% in the fourth quarter of 2024compared to 6.9% of the previous quarter and 7.7% of the first quarter, when the country crossed the initial impact of the adjustment plan. These indicators reflect a structural improvement in the labor marketnot only in volume, but also as employment.
Improvement of purchasing power and lower fiscal pressure
The favorable evolution of inflation has had a direct impact on the real income of families. The process of Powerful disinflation which has led the monthly CPI from 25% in December 2023 to the 2.4% in the last official data It has been key to improving purchasing power without resorting to expansive monetary emission policies.
The Government has managed to reduce inflation from 12.8% to 2.7%, to get the economy from the recession and raise both the activity and consumption with respect to the moment in which Milei assumed power.
In a context where the number of workers has reached record levels, real wages have risen, and poverty has droppedalsoThe risk premium has been reduced to a third, the exchange gap has been practically eliminated and a budget surplus has been achieved.
Of course, the situation remains delicate, especially because of the need for refinance the huge inherited debt to sustainable interest rates.
A visible economic transformation
The decrease in the poverty rate, together with the increase in employment and containment of inflation, has generated a palpable transformation in the Argentine economy. Although INDEC measurement is limited to the 31 most populated urban centers – which covers almost 30 million people of the approximately 47 million living in the country -, These data are a reflection of the economic turn that Argentina has taken.
The improvement of financial perspectives, the increase in investment and reduction in financing cost is raising economic activity after decades of darkness.