On this day, the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism in collaboration with the National Institute of Statistics (INE) carried out the presentation of the VII Small Entrepreneurship Survey, in which 1,977,426 people were observed, including the number of small entrepreneurs and micro-entrepreneurs. in the country.
At the event, Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism Nicolas Grau said, “Different elements of this characterization, for example the differences between men and women in undertaking small businesses as a business opportunity versus a need or as a result of the differences between men and women in terms of income from these, are also reflected in our Chile Apoya project.” , and reinforces the focus we have as a government in all policies. We have encouraged, we have a special interest in empowering women in their different institutions. So we believe it is a very useful public policy tool that should be looked at very carefully.
It should be noted that the Micro-Entrepreneurship Survey has been conducted since 2013 on the characteristics of micro-entrepreneurs and their businesses, using the International Labor Organization (ILO) guidelines as a conceptual framework. The target population is self-employed and employers with up to 10 workers (including business owner) living in occupied private houses within national boundaries.
The fieldwork was carried out between May 2 and August 5, 2022 and 7,850 households in urban and rural sectors in all parts of the country were conducted through a hybrid method, i.e., one part of the interview was conducted in person and the other part. Telephone.
In this regard, Daniela Moraga, National Director(s) of the National Institute of Statistics, emphasized the importance of this study, because “it provides a solid basis for understanding the dynamics of the labor market, focusing on public policies and improving working conditions. …) Other opinions aimed at companies or businesses Unlike the estimates, the survey analyzes people who are self-employed or own a small enterprise and includes the informal sector, which produces an important goods and services sector, especially ours in developing countries.” , he pointed out.
Key results
Among the main results of the VII Small Entrepreneur Survey, it is worth highlighting the total universe of micro entrepreneurs, which reached 1,977,426, of which 11.2% correspond to employers and 88.8% to self-employed. Of the total number of micro entrepreneurs, 59.3% are male and 40.7% are female. The regions with the highest proportion of self-employed micro-entrepreneurs are Maule (93%), Bíobío (92.1%) and La Araucanía (90.7%), higher than the national average (88.8%); The region has the lowest proportion of self-employed micro-entrepreneurs with 83.1%.
94.5% of women micro-entrepreneurs work in trade, services and manufacturing activities, while the percentage of micro-entrepreneurs working in these activities is 57.4%.
VII EME’s special contribution is the characterization of the effects of COVID on micro-enterprises. As a result, 410,955 (20.8%) micro-entrepreneurs are estimated to have started their production activities in this environment. Of these, 207,586 were females and 203,369 were males, accounting for 25.8% and 17.3% of the total microenterprises of females and males respectively. Of those who started their small business as a result of the pandemic, 290,841 did so out of “need” and 97,531 out of “opportunity.” Proportionally, 78.5% of women and 68.1% of men started their business out of “need”. At the same time, 19.6% of women and 29.8% of men started their business by “chance”.
The effects of the epidemic are also reflected in the statistics of labor informality, which are micro-entrepreneurs—those without registration with the Internal Revenue Service or complete accounting—which reached 58.3%. The branches of economic activity with the highest proportion of informal micro-entrepreneurs are the construction sector (74.6%), agriculture and fishing (74.3%) and manufacturing industries (68.4%); Whereas, the service sector accounts for the lowest rate of labor informality at 45.8%.
