• In Spain, there are 426,000 people with multiple jobs or multiple activities.

• The Entrepreneurs Law introduced a new 50% bonus for newly self-employed individuals with multiple activities.

Multiple employment and multiple activities in Spain and Europe

In Spain, there are almost 426,000 people working multiple jobs, an employment rate of just 2.3% of employed people, although it increased by 3% last year. In the European Union, the rate of multiple employees stands at 4% of wage earners, with Germany leading the market with more than 2 million people combining two or more jobs.

Although this phenomenon is often considered a symptom of labor market weakness and a response by workers to low wages, in the European Union, multiple employment tends to be higher in countries where wages are higher and unemployment is lower. Furthermore, the percentage of employed people with multiple jobs increases with higher educational levels. Sweden (9.1%), the Netherlands (8.3%), and Poland (6.4%) are the countries where multiple employment is most prevalent. At the other extreme, Italy (1.2%), Hungary (1.4%), and Greece (1.7%) are the only countries selected where multiple employment accounts for less than 2% of the total employed.

Spanish data show the opposite trend to the European one, as in our country, multiple employment declined during the crisis. From 2.4% of employed people with more than one job in 2008, this figure has dropped to 2.3% during 2016.

Differences between multiple employment and multiple activities

Unlike the trend in Northern Europe, in Spain, interest in multiple jobs or multiple activities stems from a pressure to increase income. Short-term, temporary jobs or very low wages have led employees to reconsider becoming self-employed, a fact analyzed by public employment services. The same can happen to self-employed workers, who see their income decline or have fewer clients, and seek security by starting a job as an employee.

When you have two jobs at the same time, you have to differentiate between whether they are two jobs for someone else, or whether they are two jobs, one for someone else and one for yourself.

• Multiple employment.  The worker has two jobs and, therefore, different contracts with each employer. In both cases, they contribute to the General Social Security Scheme.
• Multiple activities.  If the worker performs two different activities, one as self-employed and the other as an employee, they contribute to several Social Security schemes at the same time. On the one hand, the worker is registered with the General Social Security Scheme, and on the other, they carry out a professional or business activity for which they are registered with the Social Security Self-Employed Scheme (or an alternative scheme within this Scheme).

These two situations must be differentiated, since in the case of multiple activities, contributions are made under two different regimes, each with special rules that must be taken into account when requesting benefits or pensions for contributions.

New bonus

The bonuses for newly self-employed individuals with multiple jobs were approved under the 2013 Entrepreneurs Law. This year, these self-employed individuals will be able to reduce their contribution base depending on whether they work full-time or part-time:

New self-employed workers hired full-time:

• During the first eighteen months of registration,  self-employed workers with multiple activities have a monthly fee of €133.50.
• During the second eighteen months of registration, the self-employed person will have a monthly self-employed fee of €200.28.

New self-employed workers hired part-time, with a working day exceeding 50%

• For the first eighteen months of registration, the self-employed fee will be €200.28.
• After eighteen months of registration, the monthly self-employed fee is €226.94.