Cuba makes room for more self-employment

Cuban President Raul Castro has ruled out large-scale market reforms but will make room for more small private businesses in a bid to ease the overloaded state payroll.

Photo: Reuters

At the closing address of the biannual session of the National Assembly in Havana on Sunday, Castro said that the Council of Ministers "agreed to expand the range of self-employment jobs, and their use as another alternative for workers who lose their jobs."

But he dashed the hopes of many Cubans who thought that the changes would usher a new era of economic reform, by flatly refusing to make any moves towards capitalism.

"One cannot speak of reforms," said Economy Minister Marino Murillo, adding "we are studying an updating of the Cuban economic model in which socialist economic priorities will be at the forefront, and not the market."

However, Castro’s confirmation that "no one will be simply left out in the cold" on the employment front is the only point that might have provided any sort of relief to Cubans.

Many have been fearful that job shifts discussed recently in state media could leave them without a job. Castro insisted no massive layoffs without the reassignment of workers.

Following the crash of the former Soviet bloc in the 1990s, Cuba's economically-challenged government encouraged a wide range of small businesses, such as beauty salons, dog groomers and small restaurant owners.

But when the success of these small business rocketed, so too did public resentment.

As a result the government increased the taxation and regulation of private enterprises, and decreased the granting of licences necessary to legally form a business, thus paralysing the self-employment sector.

In 2009, only 148,000 people out of a work force of five million were legally self-employed.

Castro said he would launch new wage and salary practices early next year but did not give further details.