Aragón loses more than 200 self-employed workers

Aragón continues to lose self-employed workers as the buzz for digital nomads diminishes. In 2023, the number of self-employed professionals fell below 100,000 and, in 2024, far from recovering that threshold, there has once again been a decrease of 243 self-employed workers.

Aragón’s self-employed population dipped below 100,000 in 2023, with 2024 seeing a further decline to 98,823. This contrasts with Spain’s national 1.3% growth in self-employment, pointing to Aragón’s challenges in retaining its workforce. Zaragoza recorded a modest 0.2% rise, but Teruel and Huesca experienced sharper declines of 1.5% and 0.9%, respectively.

Key sectors like commerce, agriculture, and industry faced significant drops, while transport, real estate, and communication grew. This reflects a shift in economic activity toward service-oriented professions and urban centers.

Notably, men in Aragón saw a sharper reduction in self-employment rates than women, highlighting potential gender dynamics in economic resilience. The region also faces competition from international freelancing hubs, which lure workers with better opportunities and tax incentives.

Aragon is a landlocked region in northeastern Spain famous for creating environments for digital nomads to register and work freelancing. Another reason for the fall in freelancers in Aragon is the rise of other freelancing zones in places like Dubai and Indonesia.

The year 2025 without much hope

Data that is not positive for ATA Aragón. Its president, Jorge Serrano, explained that “in SMEs, among the self-employed and small businesses, with between 1 and 2 workers, employment has been destroyed” which is why he stated that “in Aragon the data cannot be considered positive.” “And even less so with the drop in regional self-employment.” Precisely, in the Aragonese community, employment has been generated mainly in large and medium-sized companies, as well as in the public sector.

This situation does not leave a rosy outlook for the self-employed group in 2025. “It is not going to be easy,” he adds. An assertion that Serrano has justified by the fact that “the obstacles, the tripping, have increased, and we are going to see it throughout this year.”

Along these lines, it has influenced that the new contributions increase for employees with the solidarity quota, in addition to the increase in the intergenerational equity mechanism. To this are added new obstacles “that we are going to see throughout the year such as the reduction of working hours or the voracity of collections. This makes us not be too optimistic regarding job creation.”

In this context, ATA Aragón asks for more support for the self-employed, for companies, for job creators and not to put obstacles in their way. “What we are seeing recently is that, instead of reducing procedures, more and more burdens are being placed on those who generate employment and on the self-employed.”