The Government injects more than 600 million for workers in ERTE, self-employed and small businesses

The pandemic is causing a serious economic crisis, with a special impact on activities such as restaurants and hotels. These sectors are where the Govern is trying to pay more attention, with several lines of aid that aim to alleviate the effects of restrictions and the fall in turnover.

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For this quarter, the Catalan executive has just approved a new package of direct aid, amounting to 618 million euros. The main recipients of this new package will be workers in temporary employment regulation files (ERTE), self-employed workers, and micro and small businesses. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Govern has injected a total of 877 million euros, through direct aid to companies.

Firstly, the Govern has created aid of at least 600 euros for workers in ERTE who have low incomes. 105 million euros will be allocated, with the forecast of reaching approximately 175,000 employees who are currently included in temporary files.

Workers in ERTE will also be able to opt for training courses, which will have to serve to accredit their work experience and help them in a possible reorientation and requalification of their career. About 25 million euros will go to training aid, which will have to benefit 10,000 employees.

Likewise, companies that have workers in ERTE will be supported, with the aim of maintaining the maximum number of jobs. Those companies with a workforce of less than 50 workers and a turnover of less than 10 million euros will be able to apply for this aid, of 2,000 euros per full-time worker in an ERTE situation and with a maximum of 30,000 euros per company. In total, 208 million euros will be dedicated, which will allow covering all workers in ERTE of the 104,000 micro and small Catalan companies. Companies that opt for this aid will have to maintain the workers' jobs until the end of 2021 and must return the entire subsidy in case of non-compliance.

Finally, the Catalan Executive will re-issue the 2,000 euro aid for self-employed workers, using the new award system approved after the collapse of the computer system that occurred in November. It is expected to benefit some 140,000 self-employed workers, with a total budget of 280 million euros.