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Hidden Brain Drain Threatens Argentina’s Recovery

The country’s tech-savvy workers are trading salaried jobs in pesos for off-the-books gig work paid in dollars.

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Illustration: Virginia Gabrielli

Juan Navarro faces a laundry list of challenges running a software company in crisis-prone Argentina.

There’s inflation that’s running at 50% a year, high corporate taxes, and rigid labor laws. But the founder of Hexacta says his biggest headache is an exodus of high-skilled employees ditching jobs with peso salaries for freelance work that’s paid in dollars.