Spain Business
Government moves unemployment legislation for the self employed forward
By h.b. - Nov 20, 2009 - 8:17 PM
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However the Federation of Autonomous Workers has said it considers the measure to be insufficient
A million self-employed or autonomous workers in Spain are set to benefit from new help offered from the Government if they find themselves out of work.
A maximum payment of 1,383 € 90 cents could be paid in such circumstances following the approval on Friday of the draft law by the Government.
The text of the new legislation will now be sent to the Consejo Económico y Social, CES, so they can grant it being sent on for parliamentary approval.
The self employed have to pay the rate which covers them for accidents in the work place and professional illness, and also have to be the so-called ‘economically dependent’ autonomos who have at least 75% of their income from a single client. They need to have made additional contributions of between 12.5 and 22€ a month for a year before the involuntary closure of their business, and a sliding scale of two months payments to six months depends on how long previously they have been making contributions.
The Minister for Employment, Celestino Corbacho, has said he hopes that the project will be definitive in the first quarter of next year, meaning that the self-employed can collect unemployment pay from 2011.
However the ATA, the National Federation of Autonomous Workers, has said that the payments are ‘insufficient’ and can be improved. They say such payments do not meet the needs of a self employed worker when his or her activity ceases.