Livia Rodríguez Delis

When in the 1990’s, the great recently-deceased Cuban musician Juan Formell composed a hit entitled "Un socio pa' mi negocio" (A partner for my business), he never could have imagined how much self-employment would expand to the level it has reached in Cuba today. The song is timely now, as the country has expanded openings for foreign investment, and authorized an increased number of options for self-employment.

Even as inefficiencies in enforcement and confronting illegalities continue, progress in this arena can be noted, with the number of self-employed workers continuing to grow.

Since October of 2010, when a new process of expansion of self-employment in Cuba began, measures to perfect and simplify regulations governing such work have been adopted, and the number of workers registered in this non-state modality has increased significantly.

Reports published in the national press indicate that, as of the end of July, more than 471,000 Cubans were self-employed. According to the newspaper Trabajadores, over the last five months, some 15,500 persons have registered to exercise one of 200 approved activities.

Since the new regulations became effective, self-employment has continuously grown, with more than 8,000 new workers joining this sector during the first few months after the changes, though this rate of expansion has, of course, become more moderate, according to Idalmys Alvarez Mendive, deputy director of employment for the Ministry of Labor and Social Security.

In an interview with Trabajadores, she reported that food preparation, transportation (both freight and passenger), as well as the provision of lodging have attracted the highest numbers of self-employed, with other categories fluctuating.