Aragón continues to lose self-employed workers. In 2023, the number of self-employed professionals fell below 100,000 and, in 2024, far from recovering that threshold, there has once again been a decrease of 243 self-employed.
With this decrease, of 0.2%, Aragón closes the year 2024 with a total of 98,823 self-employed compared to the 99,066 with which the 2023 financial year ended. A trend that stands out from the general line in Spain, where the number of self-employed workers has grown by 1.3% from December 2023 to December 2024, according to data provided by ATA.
Within the Aragonese community, the situation is different by province. While the number of self-employed workers has grown slightly in the province of Zaragoza, it has done so by 0.2%, there has been a decrease in the case of Teruel, with 1.5% fewer self-employed workers, registering the most pronounced fall within Aragon. In the case of Huesca, there has also been a decrease, which was 0.9%.
With these percentages, Saragossa has gained 143 self-employed workers, registering a total of 64,969 self-employed professionals. For its part, Huesca It has lost 200, bringing the total to 21,821 self-employed workers as of December 2024. Finally, in Teruelthe decrease has been 186 professionals, resulting in 12,573 members of the RETA.
The situation is especially worrying in some sectors of activity such as commercewhich in Aragón has experienced a drop of 2.3%, losing 438 self-employed workers. The community also registers losses in other sectors such as industrywith 148 fewer self-employed workers, that is, a drop of 2.4%, the same as in agriculturewhere the number of self-employed workers decreases by 426 professionals.
Self-employed workers are also being lost in the construction with a decrease of 0.4% and 43 self-employed professionals; hospitality with a drop of 0.9% and 83 professionals and, in financial activities and insurancewhere there was a decrease of 1.8% and 27 self-employed workers.
In other sectors, there has been a better evolution such as the 2.2% increase in scientific and technical professional activities or the rise of 2.9% in the sector real estate. The number of self-employed workers in the construction sector also grows by 5%. communication. In the case of transportin Aragón, there is an increase of 293 self-employed workers in the RETA, that is, 4.3% more.
Slight increases, at least in relative terms, are observed in administrative activities with an increase of 2.5% and 65 professionals, as well as in education with 2.2% and 57 people; health with 2.4% and 82, and artistic activities and entertainment with 3.8% and 74 professionals.
By gender, the loss of self-employed workers in Aragon affects men and women, although it is more significant in the case of men – 206 self-employed workers are lost – than in women, whose figure falls to 37.
The year 2025 without much hope
Data that is not positive for ATA Aragón. Its president, Jorge Serrano, has explained that “In SMEs, among the self-employed and small businesses, with between 1 and 2 workers, jobs have been destroyed“so he stated that “the data in Aragon cannot be considered positive. And even less so with the drop in regional self-employment. Precisely, in the Aragonese community, employment has been generated above all in large and medium-sized companies, as well as in the public sector.
This situation does not leave a rosy outlook for the self-employed group in 2025. “It’s not going to be easy,” he adds. An assertion that Serrano has justified by the fact that “the obstacles, the tripping, have increased, and we are going to see it throughout this year.”
Along these lines, he has stressed that the new quotes increase for employees with the solidarity fee, in addition to the increase in the intergenerational equity mechanism. To this are added new obstacles “that we are going to see throughout the year such as the reduction of working hours or the voracity of collections. This makes us not be too optimistic regarding job creation.”
In this context, ATA Aragón requests more support for the self-employedto companies, to job creators and not put obstacles in their way. “What we are seeing recently is that, instead of reducing procedures, more and more burdens are being placed on those who generate employment and on the self-employed.”
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