Havana - By late December 2018, some 580 thousand 828 Cubans had joined self-employment, with 29 percent of them being young people out of which 34 percent were women.

The information was released by first deputy Labor and Social Security minister Marta Elena Feito in conversation with Juventud Rebelde newspaper. The official added that 15 percent of all self-employees simultaneously hold a state job, while 10 percent of them are retirees.

Meanwhile 65 percent of all those workers are based in the provinces of Havana, Matanzas in the west of the country, Villa Clara in the center and Camaguey, Holguin and Santiago de Cuba in the eastern part of the island.

Major self-employment areas continue to be catering, cargo and passenger transportation, house rental, telecommunications and workers hired by other self-employees.

Last December 7, Cuban authorities introduced new regulations for self-employment which allowed private workers to manage more than one self-employment activity among other changes.

According to the vice minister, latest statistics say that 15 466 self-employees are included in this modality, particularly in the catering area.

In 2017 the state froze 27 self-employment licenses which were reopened last December and 80 percent of new authorized applications focused house rentals, cafeterias and restaurants.

A key element in the self-employment policy is the protection of hired workers. In this respect the vice minister explained that bilateral contract between the employers and employees must take into account the kind of work to carry out and the place where to do the job, the characteristics of the job to be done, rest and vacations, and the pay of the workers, along with security and sanitary conditions and any other aspects both parties agree to consider.