The increase in self-employed women in Murcia doubles that of men

Women between the ages of 40 and 59 account for almost 80% of new discharges in the last five years

Despite the fact that in absolute terms women continue to be a minority in the self-employed worker system, the rate of growth that has occurred in their favor in recent years has reduced this difference, as they have registered at a rate almost twice as fast as their male counterparts.

This is demonstrated by the latest data collected by the Ministry of Employment, which in March of this year estimated 34,991 self-employed women and 63,599 men. Although both sexes are increasing almost at the same time, 4,890 men and 4,729 more women than five years ago, they are now 15,62% more than in 2013, while the increase for them remains constant at around 8% with respect to their volume.

For the Association of Autonomous Workers of Murcia (ATA), this increase in women entrepreneurs responds to "the need to work" of many of them, "but when you register there is no box that says 'I register because nobody hires me in case I get pregnant'. When you decide to create your own business, the reasons that lead you to it are very different. What we do know is that women who are self-employed realize that this is really how they want to work. They want to organize their time, they want to develop their projects, they want to put their effort, ingenuity and training at the service of a single purpose: them”, says Yolanda Paredes, president of ATA.

Over 50

726 women between the ages of 45 and 49 have joined RETA in the Region of Murcia since 2013. Although the numbers of new self-employed women begin to grow after the age of 35, the greatest increases by age occur between the ages of 40 and 59, a score in which 3,767 more female entrepreneurs have been registered than in 2013. Among them, women between the ages of 50 and 54 have the greatest increase , with 1,364 more among its ranks.

The profile of the female entrepreneur has changed, or at least that's what the data says. In 2013, 45% of them were between 35 and 49 years old. In 2018, the new incorporations have increased the average age, placing 45.8% of the self-employed between 40 and 54 years. Among the most frequent professions, the self-employed are engaged in commerce, hospitality, scientific and technical professional activities, education and health activities, according to a report by ATA.

The failure of the zero quota

It is those under 35 years of age who have gotten off the entrepreneurial bandwagon in the last five years. Despite the measures implemented by the administration to encourage youth self-employment among women, self-employed women between the ages of 16 and 34 are now 3.5% less than in 2013, when they accounted for 22% of the total. Specifically, there are 125 fewer female entrepreneurs between the ages of 20 and 24 and 99 fewer between the ages of 30 and 34. Contrary to the data for young people, those over 60 show another notable increase: women of early retirement age have gone from 9.7% in 2013 to more than 11% in 2018.

Only 29 women between the ages of 25 and 29 have joined the ranks of self-employment since 2013, although the other side of the coin is, as in their male counterparts, in the false self-employed, self-employed workers who serve exclusively a single company, which saves registering with Social Security.

No stability or rights

For these false self-employed the hardest thing is not having stability or rights, because when you are in this situation, you have the obligations and duties of a hired worker, but not the rights. You do not have the security of a contract, which, even if it is temporary, allows you to make certain plans without the fear that you may not have a job tomorrow.

The main demands of the people in this situation would be that the self-employed quotas be regulated in another way, because it is not fair that a company with a lot of employees pays the same as a self-employed person with no income, and on the other, legislation on the figure of the dependent self-employed person, as it is a resource that is increasingly used by companies.