LABOR MARKET
Salary Indicators (Integrated System
for Retirements and Pensions)
The Integrated System for Retirements and Pensions provides information about
compensation by job for the different sectors of the economic activity. In the previous
issue of the Economic Report, compensation was broken down by geographic area and in
this issue it is broken down by activity.
This breakdown is based on the methodology applied to the System of National
Accounts as well as on the quarterly submission of the series and the definition of job.
The Integrated System for Retirements and Pensions was described in Economic
Report No. 16, 1995, year No. 5 (April 1996). However, these are some characteristics
that may help interpret the results included in this issue.
• Data correspond to the compensation by job and not to the pay actually collected by
the employee.
• The sector mentioned corresponds to that of the contributing companies, and in
most cases, it has been disclosed by the companies upon registration. However, even
when companies should mandatorily report any change in their activity, changes are
generally identified by the inspections of the control authority.
The identification of compensations by job for different sectors makes these results
have a consistent breakdown level despite the restrictions stated above.
Evaluation of Indicators
Geographical Classification
Table 3.1 shows data for 1995 and the first quarter of 1996 to analyze changes by
job and compensation by geographical area1.
Catamarca and Santiago del Estero showed an increase in the number of jobs
disclosed due to the incorporation into the SIJP during 1995 of the provincial pension
schemes for public workers. In the case of Salta, Mendoza, La Pampa and Chaco, the
increase in the number of jobs between the first quarter of 1996 and the same period of
1995 resulted from the registration of workers covered by Union Co-Liability Agreements
until December 1995.
Even though the general average for compensation by job did not change between
the first quarter of 1996 and the same period of 1995, an analysis by province shows
significant increases in Santiago del Estero, Neuquén, Santa Cruz and Tucumán, and steep
decreases in Chaco and Tierra del Fuego. No changes were recorded in San Luis, and
slight variations were observed in the rest of the provinces.
Sector Classification
Table 3.2 shows that the job share in the goods and service producing sectors
remained stable at approximately 37% and 63% respectively during the relevant period.
Most of the activities have kept their share, but “Agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing”
was one of the exceptions: its relative weight has substantially increased from the first
quarter of 1996 due to the expiration of many Union Co-Liability Agreements. This way,
workers from that sector covered by these agreements were transferred to the SIJP. The
Civil Service and Defense and Public Social Security increased their share due to the
inclusion of Catamarca’s and Santiago del Estero’s pension systems to the SIJP in June
1995.
Table 3.3 shows the average compensation by jobs broken down by economic
activity and quarter. The second and fourth quarters of each year show averages higher than
the others since the Bi-Annual Compulsory Bonus is paid in these periods. However,
vacation pay is almost totally included in December, January and February figures, together
with extra payments of family allowances.
Compensations by job in the
“Communications” behaved differently because telephone companies pay special bonuses
to their employees during the quarters when the Bi-Annual Compulsory Bonus is not paid.
The third and fourth quarters of 1995 show higher changes in average compensation
by jobs compared with the same periods of 1994.
The average compensation for the first quarter of 1996 was similar to the one
recorded during the same period of 1995, even when returns have not been fully processed.
“Textiles and leather”, “Transport material” and “Electric power, gas and water” were the
goods producing sectors that decreased the most from the first quarter of 1995. These
three sectors also recorded declines in compensation by job in the third and fourth quarters
of 1995 compared with the same quarters of 1994.
Service producing sectors showed a decrease in the average compensation for “Civil
Service and Defense” from the fourth quarter of 1995, coinciding with the incorporation of
Santiago del Estero’s and Catamarca’s public workers to the national system. “Retail
Trade”, “Transport and Storage” and “Private Education” also recorded YoY declines in
the first quarter of 1996.
A scatter measure was calculated for each sector to analyze the differences in
compensations. The distance between quartiles, measured as the difference between the
first and the third quartiles, was considered the simplest scatter measure for distribution of
compensation by job, since this distribution is asymmetric. This allows the concentration
of compensation among the different sectors be compared and, at the same time, shows the
limits for the compensations received by 50% of the jobs concentrated in the middle of the
structure.
Graph 3.1 includes information for March 1996 that shows average differences for
each sector during a month considered “normal” under the compensation structure
(excluding the bi-annual compulsory bonus, vacation pay, etc.)
The distance between quartiles shows differences according to the activity analyzed.
The most scattered activity was “Mines and Quarries”, followed by “Oil By-products and
Chemicals”, “Electric Power, Gas and Water”, “Communications” and “Banking”. These
sectors evidenced the existence of a significant share of jobs with high compensations
related to the knowledge and experience required.
On the other hand, the sectors that showed the least scattered behavior were
Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry and Fishing, Restaurants and Hotels, Personal Services and
Retail Trade, which require less training.
Less scattering is generally associated with lower compensations by job and wider
scattering to high average salaries.
See statistics appendix for monthly data from October 1994 to March 1996 regarding average compensations and jobs
disclosed.
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