Córdoba's metalworking industry has accumulated a loss of 4,168 jobs since December 2023. The reduction equals 10.5 percent of sector employment and represents a pace of nearly 150 departures per month. The new assessment by the Córdoba Metalworking Activity Observatory combines that labor decline with lower production and profitability across a broad share of provincial companies.
In April, the sector employed 37,694 people, 1,354 fewer than in the same month of 2025. The year-on-year drop was 3.5 percent, a change equivalent to 113 jobs lost per month during that period. The comparison with December 2023 reveals a more extended deterioration and distinguishes a contraction that is not confined to a single monthly reading.
The observatory identified two stages in the employment decline. The first occurred at the beginning of 2024, after the devaluation implemented at the start of Javier Milei's administration. The second began in November 2025, when productive activity slowed again. The sequence places the job losses within two periods of contraction and links the current situation to a process that began more than two years ago.
July production data confirm the deterioration. A total of 40.3 percent of manufacturers produced less than a year earlier, 31.9 percent maintained their volume and only 26.4 percent managed to increase it. In May 2025, companies with lower activity represented 32.2 percent, while those growing accounted for 33.3 percent. The comparison shows a larger group in decline and a smaller share of firms expanding production.
The adjustment is not distributed equally across all indicators. In July, 65.3 percent kept their workforces unchanged, 15.3 percent increased them and 19.4 percent reduced them. Yet 55.5 percent reported lower profitability, compared with 23.6 percent that maintained it and 16.7 percent that improved it. Stable employment at most companies therefore coexists with weaker economic margins.
There are also pronounced differences among branches. Gastón Utrera, head of the Center for Metalworking Production Studies, said suppliers to oil, gas and mining are the only ones without problems and that 75 percent expect higher sales than in 2025. By contrast, 66.7 percent of automakers and 53.8 percent of auto parts companies saw sales decline in the last four months. Córdoba once accounted for 35 percent of Argentina's automotive production but now represents 19 to 20 percent: the report portrays an industry divided between a few expanding suppliers and a manufacturing core that continues to lose activity, profitability and jobs.
