Breakdown: Are Those IT Jobs Numbers in Argentina Real? Probably Not

A month ago, several news outlets from Argentina made a big deal about growth in the country’s tech talent pool over the past couple years, portraying Argentina as a leader in the regional tech race.

We decided to dig deeper. Turns out those numbers –widely reported by several local and regional media outlets– weren’t really accurate. Actually, there was a considerable difference between the number reported and what can be found in Argentinian government databases.

The following breakdown is an attempt to set the record straight on how much Argentina’s tech labor pool grew over the past couple years, providing a more accurate picture of the country’s position as a destination for nearshore sourcing.

What was said: Several media outlets from Argentina reported that the country added 35,000 jobs to its tech sector over the last couple years, citing data from Argentina’s Software Industry Chamber (CESSI).

• Other outlets highlighted a 41% increase in the number of new programmers logged into GitHub’s platform, equivalent to 694,000 new programmers. That would be the highest percentage increase in the region. The number came from a report published by GitHub itself. 

Digging deeper: Argentina’s Labor Statistics Bulletin –which has data gathered and published by the country’s government– shows that number of registered tech jobs created over the past two years was 31% lower than what was reported by local media. Going by the aforementioned government data, those reports missed the mark by 10,000 jobs.

• Argentina generated around 24,000 new jobs between Q4-2020 and Q4-2022 within what the government bulletin labels as the “computing sector”, which includes software development, IT consulting services, repair and maintenance of computer equipment, “data center services”, data processing services and unspecified (varied) IT activities. 

• Excluding the “repair and maintenance” segment, the tally still comes very close to 24,000 jobs, or 20% growth.

• Even counting the two-year period as Q1 2020-Q4 2024, the number comes to 26,100.

The source: Media reports attribute the 35,000 number to data gathered  by Argentina’s tech industry chamber (CESSI). It seems the data point was sourced from an info card distributed by CESSI on social media on Programmer’s Day (September 13, 2023).

Setting the record straight: NSAM reached out to Argentina’s Permanent Observatory for the Software and IT Services Industry (OPSSI), which manages CESSI’s data and research.

• OPSSI’s tally of tech jobs created in the last two years in Argentina also came close to 24,000, discounting the “repair and maintenance” segment.  The Observatory bases its labor market information on government data.

• When asked about the discrepancy in data, OPSSI atributed it to a mistake, saying the infographic would be modified to reflect the correct number (24,000). 

• “We assume the value [35,000] was proyected from growth reported in 2021 and wasn’t updated to the real value from 2022”, OPSSI explained.

We also consulted several regional industry sources on whether GitHub’s “community growth” report can be taken as a reliable source to measure labor market growth in a given location.

• Most of the sources consulted questioned the value of GitHub’s report, stating that anyone can sign up to the platform, independently of their credentials. 

• GitHub’s report measures the growth of its platform and community. It can’t be used as a reliable indicator to assess the size of a programmer/developer ecosystem in specific locations.

How big?: By the end of 2022, Argentina’s tech sector had officially employed 141,400 people, according to the Labor Bulletin.  

• As of 2021, there were 5,900 registered tech companies in Argentina.

• Argentina’s total tech sector sales reached US$5.4 billion in 2022.

• Total exports closed 2022 with a record high of US$2.6 billion, almost doubling those registered in 2015.

NSAM’s Take: Argentina stands comfortably in the middle when it comes to the size of its tech labor pool among the other top regional IT industry players. Brazil has by far the biggest volumes of talent available (over 500,000), followed by Mexico (around 330,000). Colombia and Chile find themselves in the lower end of that scale, with over 60,000 each.

Foreign investors tend to perceive Latin America as a block when assessing the region as a potential sourcing destination. Those with more experience, however, understand that there are subtle differences in each geo’s tech ecosystem.

Argentina’s carved itself a niche as a good source of high-end software developers and innovators, thanks in part to a burgeoning startup scene and the success of companies like Mercado Libre and Globant.

In spite of its reputation, the country has some catching up to do in order to position itself as a true tech leader in the region. 

In August 2022, Argentina launched an initiative (Argentina Programa 4.0) to increase its tech headcount nationally by 70,000 in a single year. Government authorities have yet to report on the results of the program