The new Minimum Wage, the CPI and the rise in contributions destroy 3,900 small businesses in just one year
Inflation, the rise in contributions and the increase in the Minimum Interprofessional Wage have caused that 3,899 microenterprises (less than ten workers) have to cease their activity. This is reflected in a Cepyme study collected by Europa Press and which records data at the end of last February. In total, in February of this year there were 1,122,782 microenterprises, a 0.3% less than those existing in February 2022. With this year-on-year drop, five months of declines in the number of micro-enterprises have already accumulated, as denounced by Cepyme, which bases its analysis on official Social Security data.
The business organization warns that the decline in microenterprises has been “especially intense“, of the order of 3.8%, in the activities grouped in the agriculture, livestock and fishing sector. There have also been decreases in industry (-1.6%) and services (-0.1%).
Agriculture and fishing, the most affected
On the contrary, the number of construction microenterprises increased in February in interannual rate in 1.7%, Approaching its total figure to the maximums reached in 2008. Specific, The agricultural, livestock and fishing sector has lost 3,443 micro-enterprises in a year; heIndustry has closed 1,209 and services, 1,225. In the constructionOn the other hand, small businesses increased in 1978.
Taking the series of companies registered with Social Security, Cepyme warns that agricultural microenterprises accumulate 18 consecutive months of falls; the industrialists add 19 months of decreases and those of services, five months. “The milestone that the number of micro-enterprises in three sectors (agriculture, industry and services) has not occurred since 2013, except for the most adverse period of the pandemic,” warns the business organization.
Increases the number of companies without reaching 2019 levels
Despite the fact that the number of companies with less than 10 workers now adds up to five months of setbacks, The global number of companies increased by 0.2% in February, reaching a total of 1,316,527which means the first year-on-year rise in five months. However, Cepyme stresses that both the total number of companies registered in the Social Security such as microenterprises remains below the levels of the last quarter of 2019prior to the arrival of the pandemic.
The business organization points out that large companies with more than 500 workers“less permeable to the rise in the SMI, in particular, and to the rise in labor costs, in general”, grew 5.6% year-on-year in February, with 130 more companies, up to a total of 2,440. Specifically, the agricultural sector added a company with more than 500 workers in this period; the industry gained 30 more; construction, 5; and services, 94 large companies.
For their part, companies from 10 to 49 workers grew by 3.2% year-on-year in Februarywhile those of 50 to 249 up 3.6% and those of 250 to 499 employees increased 5.8%. Thus, only micro-enterprises lost business in this period, but they are the bulk of the business fabric, since they account for more than eight out of ten companies in the total Spanish business park.
Based on these data and given the rise in the SMI and Social Security contributions, “which will be amplified in the coming years by the pension reform”, Cepyme has urged the Government to pay attention to the “most vulnerable” companies, microenterprisesthose with less than 10 workers and that represent 85.2% of the Spanish productive fabric.
The organization that presides gerardo cuerva has denounced that the measures that raise tax and labor costs “not only do they make it difficult or prevent” the business fabric from gaining size, “but they particularly weaken microenterprisein many cases until it is closed”.
