Employment : A Radical Transformation of the Cuban People ?

Armando Soler Hernández Havana , Cuba

A s time goes by , employment in Cuba is acquiring unusual tinges . Official data take for granted that about 80 % of the jobs are in the state sector and 11-12 % in the private one , also known as the selfemployment sector . Do these figures give the real spectrum quite clearly ? It is public knowledge that , despite the new Foreign Investment Law , the volume of investments does not cover the expectations for improving employment and living standards . At least , a lot of people do not experience it at the dinner table . And for the hopeful private sector , it is visible that many Havanan entrepreneurs have closed their small points of sale ( POS ) opened just a year ago . These POS are generally dedicated to selling light and processed foods , such as pizzas . They couldn ’ t withstand the rush of inspectors , the taxes and the rampant inflation . What happens to the entrepreneurs who were forced to close ? How will they live off from now on ? Will they return to be state employee ? With the economic policy of reducing inflated payrolls applied in the most recent years , there is apparently no room for these intrepid losers . Although in an irregular and inefficient manner , such austerity policy in the labor market has largely limited the number of state jobs available . Another factor that exacerbated this situation was the rise of the working age to 65 for men and to 60 for women . Therefore , it is very difficult to resume a state job and , above all , a position with access to resources that the employee can steal . In the Cuban jargon , such a position is dubbed as one with búsqueda ( forage ). In Gaston ' s opinion , the situation has many nuances . He prefers that I call him so , like an uncle he loved much . Gastón is a retired economist , who is currently dedicated to keep the accounts of several successful restaurants and of others that are not so successful , but still are rendering some benefits for him . Let ’ s go into the subject with Gastón . I will technically use búsqueda for naming any illegal parallel income . It is the main attraction for coming back to state employment , let ’ s say , a sine qua non . People even pay bribes to get such a job . Usually it can be found where food is handled or stored , but also in other sectors , such as construction materials , parts and pieces for home installations , which are related to the more dynamic supplies in the black market , those that disappear faster without leaving traces in the bottomless pit that is the people in need . The employees who facilitate the transfer of goods are unique , because they probably use part of their working time for the state employer and spend the rest in the black market as self-employee or entrepreneur . For me , it ’ s a rising line