The Government calculates that during the pandemic 285,000 submerged jobs have emerged

The Government estimates that during the pandemic some 285,000 workers have left the underground economy, thanks to measures such as ERTEs or the extraordinary benefit for the self-employed.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
15 October 2022 Saturday 06:43
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The Government calculates that during the pandemic 285,000 submerged jobs have emerged

The Government estimates that during the pandemic some 285,000 workers have left the underground economy, thanks to measures such as ERTEs or the extraordinary benefit for the self-employed. This is stated by the Government in the 'Budget Plan 2023' that the Government is going to send to Brussels and that this Saturday was published by the Ministry of Finance and Public Administration.

There are 285,000 Social Security affiliates who have emerged, of which 250,000 are salaried and 35,000 self-employed.

“The implementation of an income protection policy of unprecedented breadth and dimension has generated a positive incentive for the emergence of underground economic activity, leading to a better functioning of the labor market and an improvement in the structural public deficit” , indicates the Government in the budget plan.

“In effect, the measures approved during the covid crisis, in particular the ERTE and the extraordinary benefit for self-employed workers, in addition to the Minimum Vital Income, have not only promoted greater security in the labor market, but are also favoring the emergence of workers who were in the submerged economy”, specifies the text.

The Government explains that if the relationship between the EPA occupation, which collects part of the employment in the submerged economy through its survey, compared to the affiliation of the General Regime, is taken as a historical reference, a stable relationship is observed since 2009, when Both series tend to converge, but "this convergence abruptly accelerates with the arrival of covid."

The plan also adds that the structural reforms will have a positive impact on the public accounts of about 0.5 points of GDP, thanks to the reduction in structural unemployment of 510,000 workers.

The Treasury estimates that the increase in structural employment, as well as the emergence of employment from the submerged economy in affiliation, would have caused an improvement in the structural balance of 0.7 points of GDP. Specifically, the reforms of the recovery plan, aimed at reducing structural unemployment, would have contributed by 0.5 points and the outcrop of affiliates by 0.2 points.