Self-Employment Thriving in Cuba

Havana, Mar 28.- Some 66 per cent of the total of self-employees is registered in the provinces of Havana, Matanzas, Villa Clara, Camagüey, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba. Some 66 per cent of the total of self-employees is registered in the provinces of Havana, Matanzas, Villa Clara, Camagüey, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba. The self-employment has been chosen by a total of 147, 693 young people since October 2010, when the new process for the enlargement of this kind of activity started in Cuba. And this represents 29 per cent of the 489, 929 people involved in this activity at the end of February.

So, of this overall total, 144, 595 people are women; 81, 215 people are also salary earners, and 60, 897 are retired, which is evidence of the acceptance of this new form of employment, according to the Report on the process of the implementation of self-employment by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS)

The report highlighted that from the total of workers, 416, 051 are working in activities which are controlled by the Labor divisions. This increase has been taking place after the coming into effect of the Law Decree No. 322/2014, which approved the transfer of licenses for renting houses, rooms and spaces to the MTSS. These licenses were previously approved by the Housing divisions.

Some 66 per cent of the total of self-employees is registered in the provinces of Havana, Matanzas, Villa Clara, Camagüey, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba. And the most representative activities are the production and sale of food, cargo and passenger transportation, renting of housing, rooms and spaces, telecommunication agents and hired workers who are mainly associated with the first two activities.

The deputy employment director Idalmys Álvarez told in a press conference that the number of workers registered as telecommunication agents has been increasing significantly after only two years of inclusion in this sector. She also noted that card agents will also work and offer mail services to the population.

Those self-employees who are in the telecommunications sector, take on the promotion and retail sale of the products and services, like the sale of prepaid Propia card, the recharger of cellphones or the access to the Internet, and collection of the payment for telephone invoices, which ETECSA wholesales to them.(Juventud Rebelde)