Leading speakers debated and shared their views on the sector last Tuesday at the conference “THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONAL SERVICES as a Major Opportunity for Job Creation, Support for Work–Family Reconciliation and a Source of Social Well-Being,” held at the CEOE headquarters.
Everyone agreed that new social trends, such as declining birth rates and an aging population, are making the personal services sector an essential part of society.
The Spanish Association of Personal Services (AESP) held the conference “THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONAL SERVICES as a Major Opportunity for Job Creation, Support for Work–Family Reconciliation and a Source of Social Well-Being” last Tuesday. The event brought together representatives of the various political groups, business representatives, trade unions and experts, enabling us to reflect on the opportunities offered by the Personal Services sector and on the keys to its development.
This conference was conceived in response to the new demand for services in today’s society, which requires an appropriate regulatory framework capable of providing real solutions for reconciling workers’ professional, personal and family lives, with the consequent creation of formal employment, as well as managing the emergence of new players in the distribution of these services resulting from new forms of collaborative economy in the sector.
It became clear to all participants that we are dealing with a highly fragmented sector that currently needs regulation better adapted to the actual needs of both users and workers, and that can promote it as one of the most important sources of entrepreneurial activity and new business projects, as well as one of the largest sources of both public- and private-sector employment.
The Association estimates that there is potential for two million new jobs and self-employed entrepreneurs in a sector where an estimated one million people currently work in the informal economy.
A new regulatory framework that takes into account all the possibilities this sector offers for creating jobs and distributing these services would consolidate this potential, bringing benefits in terms of well-being and quality of life to each of the parties involved: users, workers and entrepreneurs.
The various speakers advocated balanced policies under which the price users pay for personal services would be the same as that paid on the black market.
In this regard, measures such as personal income tax incentives for individuals who use these services, or corporate tax incentives for companies that help their employees reconcile work and family life by facilitating access to these services, as well as reduced VAT and social security contributions, would promote access to quality services within the formal market.
The importance of a simple system was also emphasized—one that removes obstacles both for users when hiring these services and for individuals who, thanks to the emergence of new forms of service provision such as technology platforms, or new entrepreneurs wishing to begin regulated activity in the sector, can access and provide these services easily and without prohibitive costs that might discourage them from starting and establishing their business.
In addition, appropriate regulation of the sector would promote the visibility and professionalization of the workers who make it up.
At the same time, everyone agreed that this is a sector with many possibilities but one that is highly feminized and unregulated, and that personal services complement the public healthcare system and are therefore necessary to meet the new social demands of our society.
See the speakers who participated and their main statements
The Personal Services Sector is emerging as one of the largest sources of employment.
Leading speakers debated and shared their views on the sector last Tuesday at the conference “THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONAL SERVICES as a Major Opportunity for Job Creation, Support for Work–Family Reconciliation and a Source of Social Well-Being,” held at the CEOE headquarters.
Everyone agreed that new social trends, such as declining birth rates and an aging population, are making the personal services sector an essential part of society.
The Spanish Association of Personal Services (AESP) held the conference “THE DEVELOPMENT OF PERSONAL SERVICES as a Major Opportunity for Job Creation, Support for Work–Family Reconciliation and a Source of Social Well-Being” last Tuesday. The event brought together representatives of the various political groups, business representatives, trade unions and experts, enabling us to reflect on the opportunities offered by the Personal Services sector and on the keys to its development.
This conference was conceived in response to the new demand for services in today’s society, which requires an appropriate regulatory framework capable of providing real solutions for reconciling workers’ professional, personal and family lives, with the consequent creation of formal employment, as well as managing the emergence of new players in the distribution of these services resulting from new forms of collaborative economy in the sector.
It became clear to all participants that we are dealing with a highly fragmented sector that currently needs regulation better adapted to the actual needs of both users and workers, and that can promote it as one of the most important sources of entrepreneurial activity and new business projects, as well as one of the largest sources of both public- and private-sector employment.
The Association estimates that there is potential for two million new jobs and self-employed entrepreneurs in a sector where an estimated one million people currently work in the informal economy.
A new regulatory framework that takes into account all the possibilities this sector offers for creating jobs and distributing these services would consolidate this potential, bringing benefits in terms of well-being and quality of life to each of the parties involved: users, workers and entrepreneurs.
The various speakers advocated balanced policies under which the price users pay for personal services would be the same as that paid on the black market.
In this regard, measures such as personal income tax incentives for individuals who use these services, or corporate tax incentives for companies that help their employees reconcile work and family life by facilitating access to these services, as well as reduced VAT and social security contributions, would promote access to quality services within the formal market.
The importance of a simple system was also emphasized—one that removes obstacles both for users when hiring these services and for individuals who, thanks to the emergence of new forms of service provision such as technology platforms, or new entrepreneurs wishing to begin regulated activity in the sector, can access and provide these services easily and without prohibitive costs that might discourage them from starting and establishing their business.
In addition, appropriate regulation of the sector would promote the visibility and professionalization of the workers who make it up.
At the same time, everyone agreed that this is a sector with many possibilities but one that is highly feminized and unregulated, and that personal services complement the public healthcare system and are therefore necessary to meet the new social demands of our society.
See the speakers who participated and their main statements
