SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, September 15 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, and the vice president and Minister of Economy, Manuel Domínguez, have conveyed this Friday to the president of the Association of Self-Employed Workers (ATA), Lorenzo Amor, the “full support” of the Government to the more than 139,000 entrepreneurs of the archipelago and which will result in the implementation, as of January 1, 2024, of the ‘zero quota’ for new self-employed workers.
After the meeting held with the national and Canarian representatives of ATA, Clavijo and Domínguez have also announced a 30% reduction in the administrative procedures of the autonomous community that affect the self-employed and the time it takes to complete them, a measure that will save costs to the collective.
The objective of this package of specific measures, as highlighted by the president of the Canary Islands, is to put the self-employed “at the center of the economic policy” of the regional government, because “they are the ones who generate employment and raise the fence every day.”
“A cumbersome administration distances citizens from public service and for entrepreneurs represents a waste of time and money,” stressed Fernando Clavijo, after emphasizing the Executive’s commitment to “reduce bureaucracy.”
Along the same lines, the vice president and counselor of Economy, Industry, Commerce and the Self-Employed, explained that it is the entrepreneurs “who support the economy” of the Canary Islands, so the Government will focus on “working for them.”
Domínguez recalled that the ‘zero quota’ for the self-employed is a commitment included in the Executive’s program, but it will have to wait until January 1 of next year due to budget uncertainty.
“We want it to be a structural measure, for the entire legislature, so we have to look closely at the cost and apply it in the new budgets,” he indicated.
SPECIFIC ADDRESS
The regional government considers that the recent creation of a General Directorate of the Self-Employed is another “unequivocal example” of the fundamental role that the Government grants to this group, as recognized by the national president of ATA, who was accompanied by the Canarian representatives of the entrepreneurs, Pedro Andueza. and Elliot Martin.
Lorenzo Amor thanked the president and the vice president for the Canary Islands Government’s “commitment” to the self-employed, not only with tax relief measures, “also with the key commitment to reduce administrative procedures,” states a note from the Executive.
In his opinion, these policies will serve to alleviate the “difficult” situation that this group is going through, with a 23% increase in their expenses due to inflation and the rise in interest rates.
According to Social Security data, as of July of this year, the Canary Islands have 139,264 self-employed workers, a figure that represents 15.8% of the total number of Social Security affiliates in the Community.
Despite being one of the hardest hit by the crisis caused by the pandemic, entrepreneurs in the archipelago have registered positive data in recent months, being the second Spanish region where they have grown the most (2.1%) with 3,000 new registrations registered in the last twelve months.
This increase is especially important among women, where the number of entrepreneurs increases 30% more than among men.
By sector, the vast majority of Canarian self-employed workers are dedicated to services due to the enormous weight of tourism in the Canary Islands economy (81.1% of the total), compared to 10.9% who work in construction, 4.3%. registered in agriculture and 3.6% in industry.
The x-ray of the archipelago’s entrepreneurs also highlights that three out of four do not have employees, compared to 23.4% who do have employees.
