HAVANA -- Cuban authorities granted more than 75,000 licenses for self-employment by the end of last year, state media reported Friday, with a further 8,000 still being considered. An increase in self-employment is among the main economic reform measures implemented by the government of Cuban President Raul Castro.The government of communist Cuba announced in October the eventual elimination of over 500,000 public-sector jobs. To counter the effect of that measure, the government moved to facilitate self-employment in a broad range of areas of economic life.">HAVANA -- Cuban authorities granted more than 75,000 licenses for self-employment by the end of last year, state media reported Friday, with a further 8,000 still being considered. An increase in self-employment is among the main economic reform measures implemented by the government of Cuban President Raul Castro.The government of communist Cuba announced in October the eventual elimination of over 500,000 public-sector jobs. To counter the effect of that measure, the government moved to facilitate self-employment in a broad range of areas of economic life.">

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Cuba grants self-employment licenses

HAVANA -- Cuban authorities granted more than 75,000 licenses for self-employment by the end of last year, state media reported Friday, with a further 8,000 still being considered.

An increase in self-employment is among the main economic reform measures implemented by the government of Cuban President Raul Castro.

The government of communist Cuba announced in October the eventual elimination of over 500,000 public-sector jobs. To counter the effect of that measure, the government moved to facilitate self-employment in a broad range of areas of economic life.

Cuban Communist Party daily Granma said that, of a total of 83,403 who had obtained licenses or were waiting for a decision on their requests to get them, 68 percent were unemployed, 16 percent were currently working and 15 percent were retired.

The greatest demand over these first few months, with 22 percent of the total, was for licenses in the sectors of “production and sale of food,” which allow owners to open small restaurants and cafes. A further 16 percent of the licenses were for “contract workers,” who can sell their labor to other individuals, which was previously illegal in Cuba.

Such small businesses have become visible on Cuban streets in recent weeks. There are small stalls that sell CDs or films, pots or juicers, coffee or sandwiches.

Cuban authorities estimated that 1.8 million people — of a total workforce of around 5 million — will join the private sector in the next five years.

In the 1990s, during the severe crisis that hit the island after the collapse of the Soviet bloc, Cuban authorities issued licenses to open small businesses. However, they soon gave up on this policy. So far, 95 percent of economic activity in Cuba is in the hands of the state.

Some measure of economic reform is under way in Cuba, though authorities insist that they only seek to “update” their socialist model, rather than to abandon it.

Source: www.chinapost.com.tw/business/americas/2011/01/10/

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