ATA estimates the cost increase associated with reducing working hours at 10% and warns that self-employed workers will raise their prices.

The president of ATA and vice president of CEOE, Lorenzo Amor, withdraws his rejection of the government's initiative to reduce the working week to 37.5 hours , citing it as an "imposed" formula that lacks the support of the business community. The leader of the self-employed workers' association has warned that if ultimately approved, this law will be a "bombshell for self-employed workers who create jobs," as it will represent an increase in labor costs of nearly 10% in the year it comes into force, due to its direct impact and the average salary increase that occurs each year.

"If it were to come into force in 2026 or 2027, it would translate into a 6.9% increase, to which would have to be added the 3% that salaries are currently increasing on average each year, which would lead to a 10% increase in costs that the self-employed are facing in this situation," the business representative maintained this Monday after detailing the results of the quarterly survey prepared by ATA, which shows that almost 80% of the self-employed have a negative perception of the economic situation and that nearly 40% of their turnover has fallen in the last year.

This is why it is assumed that if the regulatory change is finally implemented, self-employed workers will have to raise their prices to maintain the viability of their businesses , regardless of whether they adopt other measures such as adjusting their hours. These increases would be in addition to those already in place, given that the survey conducted by ATA shows that seven out of ten self-employed workers have already raised their prices, and 51% already warn that if "everything continues as it is," they will be forced to raise them in the coming months.

The Congress of Deputies is expected to debate the amendments presented by Junts, PP, and Vox to this bill on July 22nd. If none of these positions change, it will be returned to the government. The business organization is hesitant to predict the outcome of this vote, fearing that the Catalan party could change its position at the last minute and withdraw the amendment presented weeks ago. For this reason, they believe it is essential to continue warning of the consequences this would entail.

ATA maintains that the majority of corporate self-employed workers, those who create jobs, are not in a position to assume this increase in costs associated with reducing maximum working hours . At the same time, they emphasize that the minority of self-employed workers who are seeking staff face serious difficulties finding them. According to the latest survey, 62.3% of self-employed workers have not sought to expand their workforce, and 18.3% have initiated recruitment processes but have not managed to hire anyone.

The vast majority of self-employed workers have maintained their workforce over the past year and expect to do so through December. Only 5.4% consider laying off part of their team, 5% plan to hire new people, and another 11% consider expanding their workforce for the latter part of the year. However, almost half of the total cite the increase in social security contributions (associated with the pension reform) as one of the factors most negatively impacting their business.

Late payments remain one of the main problems facing the self-employed, affecting four out of ten of them. Twenty-six percent are affected solely by private entities , and another 6.48% by public entities alone. Private entities have increased the most in the last year, rising from 22.8% in June 2024 to 26.4% a year later. For this reason, Amor has denounced the fact that her organization has been excluded from the Private Late Payment Observatory created by the Ministry of Industry as part of the State Council for SMEs. Membership has been allocated to Pimec (Spanish Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises) and Conpymes (Spanish Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises), but no membership has been granted to self-employed associations.

As this newspaper reported, the CEOE and Cepyme employers' associations decided to absent themselves from last week's meeting in protest at the decision to include what they believe are employers' associations close to Junts. " What we're seeing here is political tolls being paid . They've been paid at the SME Council and with the Moratorium Observatory. When you politicize advisory bodies, this happens," denounced the president of ATA. denouncing that the organization that has been reporting on delinquency for the longest period of time has been left out and represents 61% of the self-employed.