The modern economic landscape of Argentina is undergoing a profound and troubling transformation, characterized by a structural shift that forces millions of citizens to hold multiple jobs just to make ends meet. While the concept of "polywork"—broadly defined as holding two or more concurrent jobs—has experienced a steady expansion in various parts of the world in recent years, recent comprehensive data reveals that the phenomenon has intensified sharply since President Javier Milei took office and implemented his sweeping economic program.
According to a comprehensive September report, just over 2 million people in Argentina are currently juggling more than one job. This population of multi-job holders represents roughly 10 percent of the country’s entire economically active population. A broader historical look at official figures illustrates a persistent upward trajectory over the past eight years: the proportion of employed individuals engaged in polywork has climbed from 8.7 percent in 2017 to a striking 11.5 percent projected for 2025, marking the highest recorded levels in recent history, matching peaks seen previously in 2024.
This accelerating trend is driven primarily by a combination of compounding factors. The rapid rise of the platform-based gig economy—typified by app-driven delivery and ride-sharing services such as Uber and Rappi—has converged disastrously with a severe, sustained loss of purchasing power among Argentine workers. Analysts note that this feedback loop shows no signs of reversing under current conditions.
The underlying data and analysis originate from a joint research effort conducted by the local consulting firm C-P in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung foundation. Their findings are built directly upon official labor and statistical records provided by the INDEC national statistics bureau.
“The labor market has been undergoing a significant transformation in recent years, due to a decade of stagnation in the Argentine economy and the emergence of global phenomena like the gig economy,” the joint report points out, framing the current crisis as the intersection of long-term macroeconomic failure and modern employment models.
Informal Jobs and Polywork as a Feedback Loop
Delving deeper into the mechanics of this labor market shift, Federico Pastrana, an economist and the head of the C-P consultancy, offered critical insights during an interview with the Herald. According to Pastrana, President Javier Milei’s ongoing economic model fundamentally “adjusts through unemployment and informality.” Consequently, both key indicators of labor market health are on the rise across the country.
Pastrana explained that while this precarious environment is partly a continuation of historical economic stagnation, it is deeply exacerbated by a dramatic, contemporary drop in real household incomes. Official statistics published by the INDEC statistics bureau underscore the severity of this income compression. Under the current administration, registered private-sector wages have plummeted by 7.8 percent in real terms. For workers in the public sector, the decline is even more severe, with wages dropping by 15.7 percent.
Concurrently, labor informality within the salaried workforce has reached alarming heights. During the second quarter of this year, the informal employment rate stood at 37.9 percent. This figure represents the highest level of labor informality recorded in 18 years, comfortably outstripping the already high 10-year historical average of 34.6 percent.
Pastrana elaborated on how this widespread informal sector directly accelerates the need for multiple jobs. Informality deepens the overall decline in purchasing power because wages paid within the informal economy are substantially lower than those found in formal employment structures. This disparity is particularly stark for independent workers. Because informal and secondary earnings are so meager, workers find themselves with little choice but to stack jobs.
“People have to work in more places to supplement those low incomes,” Pastrana explained, summarizing the desperate calculus facing millions of Argentine households.
When looking toward the immediate horizon, the economist expressed little optimism for a reversal, firmly ruling out any significant change in the trend for the remainder of the year. Because these developments are deeply rooted in the current structural design of the economy, Pastrana cautioned that meaningful relief will remain out of reach. “Those trends are structural,” he noted. “There will not be major changes until the economic program changes.”
A Trend in the Spotlight
A closer examination of the demographic and occupational profile of Argentine polyworkers reveals distinct patterns regarding who is most affected by this economic pressure. Statistical analysis of the multi-job workforce shows that the vast majority—81 percent—juggle precisely two occupations. More critically, 63 percent of all polyworkers are heads of household, meaning that secondary employment is frequently required to support entire families rather than merely supplementing individual disposable income.
Gender and geographic distributions also highlight the pervasive nature of the trend. Women make up 56 percent of polyworkers, and more than half of all individuals holding multiple jobs—some 54 percent—are concentrated within the densely populated Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area.
Regarding age and education, polywork is most heavily concentrated among workers who are currently in their peak labor years, specifically those aged 35 to 49. Interestingly, the data indicates that polywork actually increases as an individual’s educational attainment rises, reaching its highest concentration among people who hold higher education degrees, where it affects 42 percent of that demographic.
The data further dispels the notion that multi-job holding is restricted exclusively to informal or gig-economy workers. In fact, 54 percent of polyworkers are traditional wage earners, with public sector employees standing out notably at 24 percent of the total.
This lifestyle comes with severe physical costs. Polyworkers log an average of 16 percent more working hours than people who manage to survive on a single job. Furthermore, 44 percent of these workers are classified as overworked, enduring schedules that exceed 45 hours of labor per week.
The Growth of ‘Emerging’ Polywork
To better understand the composition of this labor force, the C-P consultancy firm divided polyworkers into two distinct categories: “traditional” and “emerging” workers. The analysis reveals that a striking 75 percent of all new moonlighters added over the past eight years belong to the latter category.
The consultancy explains that “emergent” polyworkers are a direct product of falling purchasing power and the proliferation of platform-based work against the backdrop of broader economic stagnation. This newly expanded group accounts for 48 percent of all polyworkers today. Demographically, it leans more heavily toward men, who make up 60 percent of the cohort, and concentrates on a younger age range spanning roughly 35 to 49 years old. On average, these individuals toil for an exhausting 49 hours per week.
Even within this emerging category, however, notable internal divisions exist. Researchers have split them into "white-collar" and "blue-collar" segments. White-collar emerging polyworkers make up 37 percent of this group. They generally enjoy higher relative incomes, are predominantly female, possess advanced professional qualifications and high educational credentials, work an average of 45 hours per week, and experience lower rates of labor informality compared to the broader average.
Conversely, blue-collar emerging polyworkers represent the remaining 63 percent of the category. These workers endure lower relative incomes, are predominantly male, and possess lower professional qualifications and educational levels. Their workweeks are longer, averaging 50 hours, and they suffer from significantly higher rates of informality. Highlighting the changing nature of the Argentine labor market, this specific blue-collar segment accounted for 53 percent of the total increase in polywork recorded between 2017 and 2025.
In contrast, traditional polyworkers are primarily anchored in more established sectors of the economy, specifically education, health, and domestic service. Representing 52 percent of all people holding more than one job, their participation rates within the public sector are described as particularly high.
Unlike the male-dominated emerging groups, traditional polyworkers are predominantly female, accounting for 77 percent of the cohort, and tend to be older. Their working hours reflect a different kind of strain; they labor an average of 36 hours per week, which is 13 hours fewer than their emerging counterparts, though they remain bound to sectors suffering from historic wage compression.
