32% of self-employed entrepreneurs in Spain expect their business to decline during this year. More than 33% guarantee that their activity has already decreased in the first three months of 2023. And nearly half say they haven’t gained any muscle in the past year, no matter how much weight they’ve lost. This is reflected in the Self-Employed Workers Association’s (ATA) latest barometer, a study drawn from nearly 1,200 surveys conducted just before. EasterIt also shows that 11% of these self-employed have cut their workforce at some point between March of last year and today, and another 10% expect they will have to do so before the end of the year.
here is the real problem general increase in prices And cost increaseAccording to this x-ray, he “puts the continuity of many freelancers at serious risk by seeing their expenses rise above their sales”.
Specifically, 85% of surveyed businessmen confirm that their spending has increased compared to 2022. The majority point to an increase of between 10% and 30%. However, only 20% billing It increased compared to 40% of those who said they were selling the same thing and 20% of those who knew. enter less now “This is why for many freelancers, the decline in turnover and increased costs has resulted in expenses rising above income, and they open their businesses every day knowing it will be costly for them,” ATA condemns ATA a year ago.
And so only one in five surveyed self-employed predicts growth for your business in the coming months. 70% think otherwise because they think their activities will be the same.
“The increase in taxes and contributions, along with inflation, have been the main plates that seriously put the continuity of many businesses at risk.” Lawrence Love. This inflation, price increase, increase in prices And tax payment, indeed, this tops the list of factors affecting the activities of self-employed; follow raw material cost And increase in fuel and electricity prices. “At the other extreme, aside from the scarcity of some products and the rise in interest rates, the least thing self-employed complain about is the cost of renting.”
destruction of companies
In that sense, Cepyme also denounced this Monday that the increase in contributions, the interprofessional minimum wage (SMI) and inflation had destroyed 3,900 micro-enterprises between February 2022 and February of this year. That’s 0.3% less than small businesses, but it also means the figure is down from five months ago.
As Europa Press recalls, the commercial organization based on its analysis official Social Security dataIt warns that the decline in micro-enterprises in grouped activities in the sector is “particularly intense”. agriculture, cattle breeding And Fishingand it also falls in industry and services, but in this case only 0.1%. In contrast, the number of small businesses structureA volume close to the maximum reached in 2008.