Escrivá announces that it will facilitate access to “unemployment for the self-employed” and will create a benefit for emergencies

Escrivá has explained these plans of his Ministry in response to an urgent question from the PP deputy Alicia García Rodríguez, who has accused the Government of having “abandoned” the self-employed and of wanting to apply an “axe blow” to them in the reform of the contributions . The minister, with data in hand, has reminded the PP that the coalition government has protected the self-employed for the first time in a crisis with an extraordinary unemployment benefit, contrary to what happened in previous crises as financed.

In addition, on the quotas, Escrivá has reiterated that the reform proposed by the Executive supposes a reduction in the contribution for “50%” of the self-employed and that they pay the same as now “17%”. In other words, 67%, two out of three self-employed, would pay the same or less with the future contribution system. Another third would pay more, but would also have more social protection (sick leave, maternity leave and pensions, for example).

The Government continues to negotiate this reform with the self-employed groups and social agents, which is planned to start in 2023 and be rolled out progressively in the coming years.

Improvements in unemployment for the self-employed

“We intend to convert the extraordinary benefit for the cessation of activity of the self-employed into a structural one, granting the self-employed the right to an additional benefit in an emergency situation,” the minister announced. José Luis Escrivá has pointed out that the pandemic has left “lessons” to the Executive about the need for social protection for this group in times of crisis.

The head of Social Security has warned that, in this crisis due to the pandemic, the Government deployed additional protection for the self-employed so that they could access an ‘unemployment’ benefit. This reached half of the group and has accompanied the workers during all these months, with some changes. Today there are about 108,000 protected workers. During this time, the number of self-employed workers managed to resist and, in fact, enrollment figures have been higher than those prior to COVID for many months. Currently, “there are 57,000 more self-employed” than before the pandemic, the minister stressed.

On the other hand, in the last financial crisis, without reinforcement of social protection, the number of self-employed suffered greatly for years. “In the first two years of the PP government, from December 2011 to December 2013, 105,000 self-employed jobs were lost in Spain. During the entire previous crisis, half a million self-employed workers were lost, one in 7,” he warned. Write. In 2018, “only half of this half million had been recovered,” he stressed.

The minister has confronted this management of the previous Executive of Mariano Rajoy with that of the coalition government, with an improvement in social protection “which will continue”, he has indicated. The minister’s plans include not only incorporating this new additional unemployment benefit for “emergencies”, but he has also stated that he intends to “reform the ordinary benefit” to facilitate access to it.

The ordinary ‘stop’ of the self-employed, the termination benefit, is one of the most criticized in the group because it has a very high level of rejection. The past single-color government of Pedro Sánchez, with Magdalena Valerio on the Labor and Social Security front, has already approved some changes in this regard, after negotiating with the self-employed groups. According to Minister Escrivá, his intention is to advance in this reform so that it is easier to access the benefit.