Chaco and Formosa are the provinces with the lowest family income

Income inequality in Argentina can be clearly seen on the map of the national territory: At the highest level of perception of monetary resources among urban households are those living in Tierra del Fuego and the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA), while at the lowest are the Chaco and Formosa.

A report by the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) entitled “Provincial inequalities in the distribution of income”, prepared according to data from the Permanent Survey of Total Urban Households of the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec), corresponding to the third quarter of 2022 , it shows that while the median total household income in Tierra del Fuego and CABA is $247,340 and $220,875, respectively, that of Chaco and Formosa is $101,754 and $107,820.

Meanwhile, if the focus is on per capita family income (IPCF), it is observed that the landscape of jurisdictions and income inequality does not vary when measured by total family income. “The urban population of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ranks first in terms of household income per capita, with an income of $92,863, followed by Tierra del Fuego with $86,819. On the other hand, Formosa and Chaco are at the bottom of the IPCF rankings, with $31,424 and $31,247, respectively.“, detailed the mentioned report.

Likewise, the UCA report states that Households in the national urban aggregate have, on average, a total family income of $148,651. While, They have an average per capita household income of $50,074.

Provinces ruled by Jorge Capitanich (Chaco) and Gildo Insfrán (Formosa), two men with close ties to President Alberto Fernández and Vice President Cristina Kirchner, appear to be in poor shape by most metrics. When they are not the ones occupying the last positions, these boxes are usually occupied by provinces in the northwestern region of the country, such as Tucumán, Jujuy, Salta, La Rioja or Santiago del Estero.

It is not an insignificant fact. Julieta Vera, researcher at UCA, explained this Measuring economic deprivation through monetary income is one of the most widespread alternatives to examining the well-being of a society. “It is well known that, in modern commercialized economies, monetary income is the main resource for accessing goods and services for well-being,” he said.

Vera commented that this disparate reality in Argentina, which seems divided into many countries within one, It is related to the functioning of the labor market in each geographic area, given that 75% of the income generated comes from wages.. “What we wanted is to show the inequalities that exist within the country,” added the researcher.

In this sense, as Vera pointed out, It helped a lot that in the third quarter of each year INDEC expands the Permanent Household Survey to cover cities with 2,000 inhabitants or more.. “This makes the sample representative of the national urban population,” the expert said.

Since income inequality is linked to the functioning of the labor market, it is not surprising that the top positions are occupied by CABA and Tierra del Fuego. A large part of the country’s financial, economic and manufacturing framework is concentrated in the Federal Capital, with a wide variety of companies, while the electronics industry is located in the southernmost province, with high-paying jobs.. “That’s why the rate of unregistered employment is very low in Tierra del Fuego,” Vera pointed out.

Similarly, it is not surprising that the Chaco and Formosa have the worst labor market conditions, as they are jurisdictions characterized by low productivity agricultural activities, political patronage and informality. “The labor market is linked to the economic and production structure and the existence of sectors with different levels of productivity, which causes the creation of jobs of different qualities. In these northern jurisdictions we see situations of intense heterogeneity and greater weakness in productive development“, explained the UCA researcher.