Spain's freelancers work seven extra hours a week
If you're self-employed in Spain and feel like you´re working harder than people on a salary, you could well be right, new figures show.
Spain's self-employed workers, or autónomos, are working an average 7 hours a week more than other workers in the country, Spain's Union of Professional and Working Self-employed People (UPTA) said on Wednesday.
These autónomos are now putting in 42.5 hours a week compared to the 37.5 hours of salaried workers.
This is up from the 6.6 extra hours that autónomos were working in the second quarter of 2012, UPTA said.
Citing figures from Spain's national stats office, the INE, UPTA said self-employed workers in Spain had been consistently working longer hours since the crisis kicked off.
Read The Local's article about the benefits and pitfalls of going self-employed in Spain.
These long work days showed how hard it was for autónomos to find work–life balance argued UPTA Sebastián Reyna in a statement.
He added current economic conditions in Spain made it very self-employed people to earn a decent living, despite their rights being enshrined in the Freelance Workers Statute.
Tax pressure and low consumer demand "oblige self-employed people to redouble their efforts to break even," Reyna concluded.
There are some 2.9 million self-employed people in Spain, a recent study by human resources giant Adecco showed.
Around one in six Spanish workers, or 16.8 percent, of Spain's workers are autónomos, the company also found.
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Spain's self-employed workers, or autónomos, are working an average 7 hours a week more than other workers in the country, Spain's Union of Professional and Working Self-employed People (UPTA) said on Wednesday.
These autónomos are now putting in 42.5 hours a week compared to the 37.5 hours of salaried workers.
This is up from the 6.6 extra hours that autónomos were working in the second quarter of 2012, UPTA said.
Citing figures from Spain's national stats office, the INE, UPTA said self-employed workers in Spain had been consistently working longer hours since the crisis kicked off.
Read The Local's article about the benefits and pitfalls of going self-employed in Spain.
These long work days showed how hard it was for autónomos to find work–life balance argued UPTA Sebastián Reyna in a statement.
He added current economic conditions in Spain made it very self-employed people to earn a decent living, despite their rights being enshrined in the Freelance Workers Statute.
Tax pressure and low consumer demand "oblige self-employed people to redouble their efforts to break even," Reyna concluded.
There are some 2.9 million self-employed people in Spain, a recent study by human resources giant Adecco showed.
Around one in six Spanish workers, or 16.8 percent, of Spain's workers are autónomos, the company also found.
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