MADRID, 10 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The rise in contributions, inflation and the increase in the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI) have caused the destruction, in one year, of 3,899 micro-enterprises (less than ten workers), according to a Cepyme study published this Monday with data at the end of last year. February month.
In total, in February of this year there were 1,122,782 micro-enterprises, 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 decrease in microenterprises has been “especially intense”, in the order of 3.8%, in the activities grouped in the agriculture, livestock and fishing sectors. There have also been decreases in industry (-1.6%) and services (-0.1%).
On the other hand, the number of construction microenterprises increased by 1.7% in the interannual rate in February, bringing its total figure close to the maximum reached in 2008.
Specifically, the agricultural, livestock and fishing sector has lost 3,443 micro-enterprises in one year; industry has closed 1,209 and services, 1,225. In construction, on 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; industrial companies add up to 19 months of decreases and 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.
Despite the fact that the number of companies with less than 10 workers has already fallen for five months, the global number of companies increased by 0.2% in February, reaching a total of 1,316,527, which represents the first year-on-year rise in five months.
However, Cepyme stresses that both the total number of companies registered with Social Security and the number of micro-enterprises are still below the levels of the last quarter of 2019, prior 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 by 5.6% year-on-year in February, with 130 companies more, 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 with 10 to 49 workers grew 3.2% year-on-year in February, while those with 50 to 249 rose 3.6% and those with 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 every 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 due to the pension reform”, Cepyme has urged the Government to pay attention to companies ” most vulnerable”, micro-enterprises, those with fewer than 10 workers and which represent 85.2% of the Spanish productive fabric.
The organization chaired by Gerardo Cuerva has denounced that the measures that raise tax and labor costs “not only make it difficult or prevent” the business fabric from gaining size, “but they especially weaken micro-enterprises, in many cases even causing their closure.”
