Self-Employment in Spain less popular than last year

ENTREPRENEUR numbers are on the slide with fewer people in Spain choosing to go it alone.

The Union of Freelance Workers, Associations and Entrepreneurs (UATAE) has released data that shows there have been three times fewer applications for self-employment status in Spain this year compared to 2018.

Figures show that 33,262 self-employed workers registered with the Social Security department in 2018 which was 1.5% higher than the year before. In 2019 only 11,664 people registered as self-employed.

The Canary Islands is the number one location for self-employed workers according to the Ministry of Labour as it recorded a 2.9% increase on the number of self-employed contracts issued.

Other autonomous communities where self-employment is on the up include Andalusia, Madrid, The Balearic Islands, Valencia, Murcia and Extremadura.

The rest have all recorded downward trends, the most dramatic of all is in Aragon where there are 2.8% less self-employed workers than last year.

The UATAE has linked the fall in ‘autonomo’ status across Spain to the growth of the tourism sector leading to more employment.