Stimulating and protecting self-employment and entrepreneurship in Spain (2008-2018)

Abstract

This article tries to show the transformations that have taken place in the regulatory framework of autonomous work in Spain during the decade of economic, social and financial crisis (2008-2018). We especially emphasize the fact that recessive economic cycles do not necessarily generate a redirection from unemployment to self-employment. In the same way, the change in the economic cycle encourages the hiring of salaried workers to increase and the number of self-employed workers to stabilize. The article also investigates the problem of the unsustainability of the social protection system for self-employed workers in Spain. This has been one of the most resounding failures of the regulatory regime that was born in 2007 and was reformed in 2017. Finally, we take a tour of the main actions of the legislator on the policy of incentives to the phenomenon of entrepreneurial entrepreneurship.