The rise in prices and the SMI threaten to expel more domestic workers into the underground economy

• Miguel Garrido (CEOE): "The underground economy is encouraged by certain government policies"

Families in

that have hired

registered with

will have to assume, as of this month of January, an increase in the payment to Social Security for their

that will be made automatically, given that the

(MEI) designed to increase income and make the pension system more sustainable will also affect them as well as companies.

At the end of December, the country had

registered as members.

Given the predominance of women in the group (they account for

), they are usually referred to in the feminine as

.

For all of them, their employers will have to pay as contributions the result of applying a percentage of

, of which 23.6 points are for contributions for common contingencies -diseases, non-work accidents, births and child care, etc.-;

1.5 points are for professional contingencies -accidents and occupational diseases-;

5 points are for unemployment and have been applied since last October, 0.2 points for FOGASA and 0.5 points are added as of this month by the Intergenerational Equity Mechanism.

For their part, the domestic workers themselves will also have to increase their contribution through contributions, although only by

.

Your quota will be the result of applying a percentage of 5.85% -4.7 points for the worker's quota, 1.05 quota points for the unemployment benefit and 0.1 points for the MEI-.

It must be taken into account, however, that Royal Decree-Law 16/2022, of September 6, which stipulated the obligation for domestic workers to pay unemployment contributions, also approved a

they pay employers for common contingencies of domestic workers and a

in the unemployment contribution, provided they are up to date with Social Security and their tax obligations.

If they are large families, they will have this last bonus and an additional bonus of 45% until March 31.

These bonuses were extended in the 2023 General State Budget.

This regime will change as of April 1, 2023, when a

, based on certain patrimony and/or income requirements of the family unit. or coexistence, which will be an alternative to the current bonuses.

According to Social Security, the new

domestic workers has already meant an increase of

-after applying the 80% bonus- in what they pay for social contributions, to which

per

, with which

In addition to this increase in contributions, there will soon be an

, the salary usually received by female employees in this segment, which will translate into an improvement in their purchasing power in an environment of high inflation and, at the same time, time, in an increase in costs for their employers, which could aggravate the already existing trend of expelling some members of this sector into the underground economy.

In the Ministry of Social Security they assure this newspaper that

, since the increase in costs derived from the MEI will mean

But the truth is that

that the segment of domestic workers is

to any increase in costs, such as the one that an increase in the minimum wage may entail, and in the past they themselves have recognized a transfer of personnel to what is called the "informal economy".

"Are there fewer domestic workers than before the rise in the Minimum Wage? No, the 13,000 domestic workers who have stopped contributing are engaged in other occupations and

admitted.

former Secretary of State for Social Security, in

, when taking stock of the impact of the SMI on employment a year after the Government of Pedro Sánchez raised it by 22.3%, to

in January of that year .

This loss of domestic jobs in the first year of the rise in the SMI

and today the country has

than then

with Social Security, which leaves the total number of regulated workers at

, 13% of the maximum reached in 2016, of 433,000 people.

To this volume of regular domestic workers are added

and do their activity 'in the black', according to the Active Population Survey.

In 2022, the number of domestic workers affiliated with Social Security has fallen by 5,584 people.

"

a year in which employment has grown in practically all sectors of the Spanish economy -with an average increase of 2.4% in terms of affiliation-

with a loss of 1.5% of its affiliates.Undoubtedly , the

double increase in

and

) may be behind an increase in the underground economy in a traditionally favorable sector and explain, at at least in part, the fall in prices in this sector", points

, director of

to this medium.

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• Social Security

• Pedro Sanchez

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• minimum salary

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