The INE detected more than 137,000 false self-employed in the last quarter of 2022

The National Institute of Statistics (INE) reclassified in the last quarter of 2022 as salaried employees 137,600 people who had previously assured that they were independent workers.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
30 January 2023 Monday 11:07
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The INE detected more than 137,000 false self-employed in the last quarter of 2022

The National Institute of Statistics (INE) reclassified in the last quarter of 2022 as salaried employees 137,600 people who had previously assured that they were independent workers.

The INE carried out this reclassification to carry out the latest Active Population Survey (EPA), according to the data to which Servimedia has had access, since these 137,600 people first self-identified as independent workers but, later, they assured that, in reality , their work was carried out for an employer.

However, the data for the last quarter is lower than the figure for the previous quarter, since between July and September the INE reclassified 156,500 self-employed workers as salaried. Thus, there has been a quarterly drop of 12.07%.

If the data for the last quarter of 2022 is compared with the same period of 2021, when the INE relocated 161,100 independent workers as salaried workers, the drop is even greater, since it reaches 14.58% year-on-year.

In this sense, it should be remembered that the Labor Inspectorate identified 40,000 false self-employed workers during the year 2022, a figure that has grown to 80,000 in the last three years. In this regard, the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, warned this week that "no one will be outside the law in our country."

“We have a complete approach to the main problem in the labor market, which is precariousness. We have developed a strategy that has to do with ending precariousness,” Díaz pointed out. In addition, he denounced that the figure of the false self-employed evades the payment of Social Security contributions, while the rights of workers are violated.

In this context, the Labor Inspectorate has just imposed another million-dollar sanction on Glovo worth 57 million euros, accusing him of resorting to the figure of the false self-employed, as well as having foreigners without a work permit.

Precisely, article 311 bis of the Criminal Code contemplates imprisonment of three to 18 months or a fine of 12 to 30 months for those who "repeatedly employ or give occupation to foreign citizens who do not have a work permit" or "employ or give occupation to a minor who lacks a work permit.”

Likewise, Díaz recalled this week that article 311 of the Penal Code has been amended, which "has to do with repeated breaches of administrative procedures." This article includes prison sentences of six months to six years and a fine of six to 12 months for imposing illegal conditions by hiring "under formulas unrelated to the employment contract, or maintaining them against a requirement or administrative sanction."

Finally, the head of the Labor portfolio asserted that, just as citizens are required to comply with the law, "companies that repeatedly violate, not only labor standards, but also reveal themselves against the work of the function public, in this case the Inspection, we will act with the weight of the law”.