50% more Cuban entrepreneurs in 10 weeks

More than 75 000 new licenses for the Self-Employment

 

Granma reports that 75,061 Cubans have received licenses to join the entrepreneurial sector since late October.

That boosts the sector’s size by 50 percent, and puts it at its largest size since its peak of 209,000 in 1996. An additional 8,342 have their paperwork moving through the system, the paper reports.

With layoffs in Cuba starting in earnest, the sector seems poised to continue growing in large numbers.

Of the new licensees, according to the article, 68 percent were not employed, which may indicate that many are coming in from the black market. Sixteen percent are retirees. Sixteen percent are getting licenses as employees of other entrepreneurs, which shows that the sector is moving from one-person “self-employment” to micro enterprises. Twenty-two percent are in the food sector; if they do well, their success will spell savings for the government, enabling it to close its food service operations and the distribution systems and bureaucracy that go along with them. Three percent are renting out space in their homes; the article doesn’t specify how many are renting lodging and how many are renting space for other entrepreneurs’ business premises.

Until the end of last year 75,061 were granted new licenses for the Self-Employed and 8342 were in the process, since the end of October 2010 was approved the extension and flexibility of this activity.

According to monitoring conducted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the total of 83 403 persons licensed or in process, 68% had no employment relationship, 16% were workers and 15% retired. In order to join the special social security regime, there were 56 698 people.

Among the most sought after work to exercise, have remained in the top two in the development and sale of food, with 22% of permits issued or in process, and hired workers, who account for 16%.

This is followed by transportation and passenger load (5%), producers sundries vendors use at home (4%) and rental housing and messengers, both with 3%.

In figures that do not exceed 2 000 but exceeded a thousand, are builders, collectors, sellers of raw materials, manicure, carpenters and cobblers.

At the head of the provinces with the largest number of permits continues the capital, followed by Camagüey, the territories of present and Mayabeque Artemis and Matanzas. 

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