Unemployment dropped to 6.9% in second quarter, says INDEC

The economy grew more than expected in the second quarter of the year as rising commodity prices boosted exports, even as rising inflation eroded consumer purchasing power.

Unemployment in Argentina fell to 6.9 percent in the second quarter from 9.6 percent in the same period last year, the INDEC national statistics bureau reported on Wednesday.

But the indicator had inched down 0.1 percent from the seven percent of the first quarter of this year, the bureau informed, which analysts consider to be a more significant basis for comparison since employment was still restricted by pandemic lockdown in the first half of last year.

Underemployment dropped to 11.1 percent in the second quarter as against 12.4 percent in the same period last year but was up from the first quarter of this year when it totalled the round figure of 10 percent.

Argentina’s economy will grow four percent this year, according to the International Monetary Fund.