Teacher's Day: How Much Teachers Earn in Argentina and Which Province Pays the Best

Teacher's Day arrives this September 11 amid significant conflict in the education system, with strikes in schools across various provinces and protests at national universities. In this context, it is necessary to reconstruct the current state of teachers' salaries in Argentina: how much primary and secondary school teachers earn today, how much university professors are paid, the erosion of purchasing power against inflation, and what differences exist among the various provinces.

The salary dispute occurs while Javier Milei's government maintains a policy of cuts to educational funding. In universities, the conflict has deepened around the University Financing Law, whose implementation has only allowed for the recovery of a portion of the salary deterioration, while in provincial schools, the withdrawal of national assistance has shifted greater responsibility to the jurisdictions. This is compounded by budget cuts and the discontinuation of tools such as the National Fund for Teacher Incentives (FONID).

The numbers show the extent of the deterioration. According to CTERA, the most representative union of education workers at the national level, teachers' salaries have accumulated a real loss of nearly 30% since 2015, while for a primary school teacher with 10 years of experience, purchasing power has fallen by about 30% since September 2023.

In national universities, the real loss since November of that year reaches 22.2%, even after the partial recovery linked to the University Financing Law. At the same time, the gap between provinces exceeds $1.5 million monthly for the same teaching position, a difference that reflects the increasing burden of each jurisdiction's fiscal accounts on salaries.

Teacher Salary: How Much a Teacher Has Lost and How Milei's Cuts Impacted It

According to the report prepared by CTERA, the setback has left teachers' salaries at one of their lowest levels in the last three decades, and to recover the purchasing power it had in June 2015, it would need to register a 42% real increase.

The deterioration accelerated since the second half of 2023. For a primary school teacher with a simple workday and 10 years of experience, the net salary went from representing $1,541,860 in September 2023 to $1,081,158 in June 2026, measured at constant prices of June 2026 (see Graph 1). This means a loss of about $460,700 in monthly purchasing power, a decline of nearly 30% in less than three years.{#p-1789003654302-70318}

Graph1: the data corresponds to the national average of the net salary of a primary school teacher with a simple workday and 10 years of experience. Source: Instituto Marina Vilte --CTERA based on data from the Ministry of Education and the IPC-INDEC and the Household Expenditure Survey 2017-2018.{#p-1789074778617-8747}

The decline in salaries occurred alongside a significant cut to the education budget. According to CTERA, since 2023, the National Public Administration Budget has fallen by 34.4% in real terms, while the Education and Culture function suffered a greater cut of 45.9%. Within that universe, the allocations for Compulsory Education have accumulated a real decline of 77%, while investment in educational infrastructure has collapsed by 95.8%.{#p-1789003654302-64911}

The adjustment continued throughout 2026. Although Education and Culture received a nominal increase of 15.9% compared to the initial budget during the first seven months of the year, CTERA warned that resources were mainly concentrated in universities. In contrast, Compulsory Education recorded an additional cut of 4.4% and Educational Infrastructure another of 54%. The programs of the Secretary of Education, excluding universities, also have allocations for 2026 79.2% lower in real terms than those of 2023.{#p-1789074721098-54617}
![The data for Compulsory Education Teachers corresponds to the national average of the net salary of primary level teachers, with a simple day and 10 years of seniority. Source: Instituto Marina Vilte –CTERA based on data from the Ministry of Education, INDEC, and various unions. The orange column indicates the loss of purchasing power considering the CPI corrected by the consumption guidelines surveyed by ENGhO 2017-2018.](https://media.ambito.com/p/64cf799c4ee91109b554a740dff60f90/adjuntos/239/imagenes/043/635/0043635592/730x0/smart/el-dato-docentes-educ-obligatoria-corresponde-al-promedio-nacional-del-salario-bolsillo-del-maestro-grado-del-nivel-primario-jornada-simple-10-anos-antiguedad-fuente-instituto-marina-vilte-ctera-base-datos-del-ministerio-educacion-del-indec-y-distintos-gremios-la-columna-naranja-indica-la-perdida-poder-adquisitivo-considerando-enipc-corregido-las-pautas-consumo-relevadas-engho-2017-2018.jpg "The data for Compulsory Education Teachers corresponds to the national average of the net salary of primary level teachers, with a simple day and 10 years of seniority. Source: Instituto Marina Vilte –CTERA based on data from the Ministry of Education, INDEC, and various unions. The orange column indicates the loss of purchasing power considering the CPI corrected by the consumption guidelines surveyed by ENGhO 2017-2018.")
The data for Compulsory Education Teachers corresponds to the national average of the net salary of primary level teachers, with a simple day and 10 years of seniority. Source: Instituto Marina Vilte --CTERA based on data from the Ministry of Education, INDEC, and various unions. The orange column indicates the loss of `purchasing power considering the CPI corrected by the consumption guidelines surveyed by ENGhO 2017-2018.{#p-1789074847240-21964}

The budget execution also shows the extent of the adjustment, as by July 2026 only 43.8% of the annual budget for the programs of the Secretary of Education had been executed, compared to the 58% that, in theoretical terms, should have been executed by that time of the year. Meanwhile, CTERA estimates that consolidated educational spending will represent around 4.1% of GDP in 2026, down from 5.2% in 2023. National investment in Education and Culture fell, according to the report, from 1.42% of GDP to 0.79%.{#p-1789003654302-34024}

Education: National Funding Declines and Provinces Absorb Cuts {#p-1788990245217-95778}

National educational funding is undergoing a significant retraction process. According to a report from IIEP UBA-CONICET and OGECyT-IGEDECO, the Education and Culture function recorded a real drop of 43.2% in 2024 and 7.9% in 2025, implying a cumulative contraction of 47.7% over the biennium. For 2026, the current credit as of May 30 projects a new real decrease of 12.7%, which, if realized, would mark three consecutive years of decline.{#p-1789004688592-96021}

Ámbito consulted Javier Curcio, an economist and director of the Department of Economics at the Faculty of Economic Sciences (UBA), who argued that the deterioration must also be understood in the context of the salary situation: "Salary represents more than 80% of the educational function, and if that is not resolved, it is very difficult to address any issues related to quality."

The adjustment also changed the weight of education within public accounts. National spending on Education and Culture went from representing 1.41% of GDP in 2023 to 0.86% in 2024. At the same time, provinces took on an increasingly larger role in sustaining the system.

According to the reconstruction carried out by researchers from IIEP UBA-CONICET and OGECyT-IGEDECO, in 2024 the Nation financed 20.1% of consolidated educational spending, down from 26.8% the previous year, while provincial jurisdictions accounted for 79.9%. In this scenario, Curcio warned that the fiscal situation of the provinces could become a determining factor and "critical for all levels of government." In light of the decline in national transfers and economic activity, "we are in a recessionary phase of income that leads us to more adjustments," he stated.

The reduced national presence also impacted salary coordination mechanisms. The discontinuation of the National Fund for Teacher Incentives (FONID) since 2024 eliminated a historical tool for supplementing the salaries of provincial teachers, while the Salary Compensation Fund recorded no execution in 2025 or so far in 2026. This was compounded by changes to the national teacher bargaining agreement, which granted greater prominence to the Federal Council of Education. For the report, these changes mean that salaries and financing conditions are increasingly linked to the fiscal capacity of each province.

At this point, Curcio estimated that "the decline in salary in the teaching sector in the average provincial public sector represents between 17 and 20% for the provinces," a deterioration that, he noted, has persisted since the beginning of the current administration.

The analysis of teacher salaries shows a significant loss against inflation and large gaps between the incomes of different provinces.
Province of Buenos Aires

In this scenario, Juan Ignacio Doberti, a PhD in Economic Sciences and researcher at UBA, questioned the Government's neglect of teacher salary funding and the increased responsibility placed on the provinces. In response to Ámbito's inquiry, the specialist stated that the situation not only caused a loss of purchasing power but also deepened inequalities between jurisdictions with different fiscal capacities. "One thing is that there is no money for anyone, but another thing is that there is no money for you. That is what the Government is telling education," he asserted.

Doberti stated that the debate goes beyond fiscal adjustment and relates to the priorities defined by the state. "It is not just a component of fiscal adjustment; it is a component of fiscal adjustment and spending directed towards other purposes," he argued. In this sense, he pointed out that while the Nation reduced its participation in educational financing and eliminated tools like FONID, the Government decided to allocate more resources to other areas, such as defense and security.{#p-1789073250590-20580}

Teacher salaries have lost purchasing power in recent years, and the differences between provinces deepen inequality within the educational system.{#p-1789075018944-88920}

Territorial differences thus emerge as one of the main challenges in the new scenario. The spending per state student and the proportion of the provincial budget allocated to education do not necessarily evolve together. CABA, for example, allocated $3.4 million per student in 2024, despite education representing only 18.2% of its public spending, one of the lowest percentages in the country. At the opposite end, provinces like Buenos Aires and Salta allocated close to or more than 30% of their budgets to education but recorded spending levels per student below the national average.{#p-1789004688593-55495}

Patagonian jurisdictions, meanwhile, combine high resources per student with a significant share of education in their budgets. Curcio emphasized that the deterioration is not uniform and noted that "not all provinces reduced" salaries, as some jurisdictions managed to compensate for part of the loss of national funds with their own resources.{#p-1789073711496-24246}

The fiscal scenario coincides with a broader change in the discussion about how to finance education. The report warns that mechanisms oriented towards demand, such as vouchers, scholarships, and subsidies to families, have begun to gain ground, along with increased support for private education. The voucher program reached 830,000 students in 2024 and 504,808 in 2025, although researchers emphasize that it does not yet constitute a widespread voucher system. Meanwhile, the 2026 Budget eliminated the historical reference to the goal of allocating 6% of GDP to education.{#p-1789004688593-83782}

For Curcio, the problem exceeds the budgetary discussion and directly impacts the quality of the system: "With a 20% drop in salaries, it is impossible to recover any sector," he said. In this sense, he considered that teacher salaries are a "necessary but not sufficient condition" to improve education, but he maintained that keeping staff in good conditions, with training, incentives, and adequate remuneration, is essential for any recovery strategy.{#p-1789074889641-74306}

The impact of this change, according to Doberti, must also be analyzed from the signal received by the entire educational system. "I do not have the perception that all of society is against teachers. What I am clear about is that the Government does not value them," he pointed out. In this sense, the deterioration of salaries can affect the ability to attract, retain, and motivate teachers: "The educational level will never be better than the level of its teachers," he stated, regarding the conditions of education workers in recent years. Therefore, he warned that the problem is not limited to how much salaries have decreased, but to the educational project that arises from a State that reduces its participation in financing. "If education was bad, we can discuss the responsibility of previous governments. But if it has worsened, the question is what did you do to improve it," he concluded.

The Situation of Teachers in Universities

The salaries of workers in national universities have accumulated a real loss of 22.2% since November 2023, as explained by Curcio (see Graph 1). To reverse this deterioration and comply with the University Financing Law, salaries should increase 33.5% in real terms. Additionally, he pointed out that the accumulated salary debt since October 2025 amounts to 3.2 salaries from August 2026, not counting interests or penalties.
Graph 1: Monthly accumulated salary variation in public, private sectors, national universities.
AFISPOP IIEP UBA-CONICET

With the current agreement, in October there will be a 3% increase, but if the inflation projected by the REM of the BCRA is fulfilled, the loss of purchasing power would rise to 25.1%. In comparison, the real drop since November 2023 is 16.6% for the public sector in general and 3.5% for registered private workers.

Map of Teacher Salaries: Provinces with the Best and Worst Salaries

The teacher salary map shows a deeply unequal Argentina. According to the Indicative Report on Teacher Salaries, prepared by the National Education Secretariat, as of June this year (the most recent survey), among the 24 jurisdictions, the difference between the highest and lowest salary exceeds $1.58 million gross monthly for a grade teacher with 10 years of experience. Neuquén tops the ranking with $2,521,570, while Mendoza is at the opposite end, with $935,450. The distance reveals that, even under the same witness position, teacher remuneration can be almost three times higher depending on the province in which the worker is employed (see Graph 2).

The differences also appear among the provinces that occupy the top positions. Behind Neuquén are Santiago del Estero and Santa Cruz, both above $1.8 million, while Tierra del Fuego and Córdoba exceed $1.6 million. In contrast, nine jurisdictions still report salaries below $1.2 million, including Buenos Aires, San Luis, Tucumán, Jujuy, Entre Ríos, Catamarca, La Rioja, Misiones, and Mendoza. The contrast reflects the heterogeneity of salary policies and the capacity for recomposition of each jurisdiction.{#p-1788989911172-2516}

Gemini IA

The evolution over the last year was also not uniform. Santiago del Estero led the year-on-year salary recomposition with an increase of 106.1%, followed by Corrientes, with 56.8%. Catamarca, Tucumán, and San Juan also recorded increases of over 40%. However, the report considers the impact of extraordinary sums in some jurisdictions, so year-on-year variations should be analyzed alongside the composition of each salary and not solely based on the final percentage (see graph 3).{#p-1788989911172-25936}

At the other end, Chaco recorded a recomposition of only 6.8% in the last 12 months, the lowest among the analyzed jurisdictions. Tierra del Fuego, San Luis, Mendoza, and Salta were also among the provinces with the lowest year-on-year increases. This demonstrates that a higher percentage increase does not necessarily imply reaching the highest salaries in the country: provinces with lower initial wages can record strong recompositions and still remain behind in the ranking.{#p-1788989911172-17368}

Gemini IA