An important part of the costs that companies assume to improve salaries in line with inflation is not reaching the pockets of workers. This is how the Catalan employers' association for small and medium-sized enterprises, Pimec, details it in a report published this Thursday dedicated to the so-called "fiscal drag, or progressivity in the cold. It is the dysfunction that arises when salary increases associated with price increases do not have a fiscal replica in the form of IRPF deflation. "A perversion occurs, and that is that we raise salaries, but this does not translate into more purchasing power," denounced the president of the business association, Antoni Cañete.

The plenary session of the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona, meeting this Thursday, has narrowly approved the reform proposed by the executive committee to expand from two to ten the paid vocal seats granted by greater voluntary contribution, the so-called silver chairs. The body was completely divided in the session, with a tie of 29 votes in favor of the measure and 29 against. The decision was unblocked by the casting vote of the president, Josep Santacreu.

Two out of every three Catalan SMEs have had problems filling vacancies with the candidates they would have liked because these candidates withdrew when they saw they would have trouble finding an affordable place to live. In fact, half of the country's small and medium-sized enterprises admit that they have abandoned growth projects, either by expanding their workforce or by opening new centers, due to the same issue. Because of the residential strain that workers suffered or, even, because the company itself could not find a more suitable place to make the growth leap due to the increase in prices. The study presented this Wednesday by the SME Observatory of the Catalan employers' association of small and medium-sized enterprises, Pimec, is a new demonstration of the extent to which the housing crisis is harming not only citizens, especially young people and those with more precarious salaries, but it is also a general problem that clearly and worryingly hinders the entire country's economy and prevents it from advancing at the desired pace.

The housing crisis is also a drag on business growth. This is according to a report prepared by the SME Observatory of the Catalan employers' association of small and medium-sized enterprises, Pimec, which indicates that one out of every two businesses in the country has renounced applying growth measures – from expanding staff to opening new production centers – due to the residential pressure suffered by both the company and the workers.

The executive of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, led by president Josep Santacreu, is nearing the end of its term with a burning issue. The highest governing body of the public law corporation announced an agreement last week to increase the number of voluntary economic contribution memberships, known as "silver chairs", from the current two to ten. The proposal, which Santacreu himself had considered since his victory in the 2023 chamber elections, has notable support within the plenary but also a significant number of detractors. The final say will lie with the entity's plenary, which will meet next Thursday and, according to sources consulted by ARA, there is currently no certainty about the outcome of the vote.

Today is Enterprise Day, a day to recognize the essential contribution of entrepreneurs to the economic and social progress of our country. Because behind every company there are people who take risks, drive projects, create opportunities, and generate employment.

The president of Pimec, Antoni Cañete, took advantage of the presence of the Minister of Industry, Jordi Hereu, at an event of this employers' association in Rubí to call for a law aimed at preventing obstacles that hinder the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This law to promote business growth should serve to encourage SMEs to gain size, productivity, and competitiveness. Hereu, who in the same event advocated for increasing the weight of local industry and trade, argued that public policies should be directed towards business growth, strengthening the size, productivity, and competitiveness of the SME fabric to face global challenges.

“More industry, but, above all, of better quality”: Salvador Illa and the country's main economic agents have sealed this Monday the new National Pact for Industry. The roadmap until 2030 foresees an investment of almost 4,500 million euros in 190 actions comprised in five major areas, such as innovation or employment. During his speech, the President of the Generalitat emphasized that the agreement "is not a sectoral pact" but a "national and future pact". The text has been agreed with the two main employers' associations in the territory, Foment del Treball and Pimec, and the two majority trade unions, Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) and UGT. The objective: that by 2030 industry represents 25% of Catalonia's gross domestic product (GDP), the macroeconomic indicator that measures the monetary value of all final goods and services produced within a territory.

Catalan local commerce stands up to large digital sales platforms like Amazon, Shein, or Glovo, accusing them of "unfair competition" and being one of the reasons for the stagnation of its growth. "These new players operate with different rules of the game [...] and concentrate enormous economies of scale that directly impact the competitiveness of our local commerce: some kind of control is needed," Pimec Comerç president, Mònica Gregori, demanded this Monday in a media briefing from Barcelona.

The president of Pimec, Antoni Cañete, has called on Brussels for business regulation that is "simpler, more proportionate and adapted" for SMEs. The leader of the Catalan association of small and medium-sized enterprises met this Thursday with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and warned of the "bureaucratic overload" that the business fabric suffers from, which "hinders its competitiveness and growth".

The president of Pimec, Antoni Cañete, has proposed an agreement with the government, parties, and unions to utilize the 60 million from the agreement with Social Security to strengthen primary care and reduce absenteeism. In this way, he insists on the warning he already gave in an interview with ARA, in which he warned that these resources are not being executed and must be returned.

Antoni Cañete i Martos (Barcelona, 1963), has been the president of the employers' association Pimec since February 2021. With him, we review the recent controversy with the Minister of Health, Olga Pané, who withdrew a measure that had been well received by employers' associations: encouraging CAPs to reduce the number of work absences. We also analyze the process of regularization of foreigners that has been launched, as well as the consequences of the war in Iran for companies.

The relationship between the president of the Spanish employers' association Conpymes, José María Torres, and the Catalan Pimec, one of the founders of this organization, which was established in May 2021, is rapidly deteriorating. So much so that Pimec is considering promoting a split from this organization or achieving a change in the presidency, according to close sources. Torres, who headed the only candidacy for the presidency and renewal of the board in the electoral process that opened last October, has chosen to proclaim himself winner again during the organization's assembly held this Thursday in Madrid, with the majority of affiliated organizations against him.

The Spanish government is working on a package of measures to address the economic consequences of the war in the Middle East, especially the surge in energy prices. Meanwhile, employers' associations, unions, and various sectors of the economy are already presenting them with different demands, some of which share a common denominator: a tax cut. In fact, following the round of political talks between the Ministry of the Presidency and the parties in Congress, this Thursday morning it is the turn of the major unions and employers' associations: CCOO, UGT, CEOE, and Cepyme will meet with the Spanish government's economic ministers at the Ministry of Economy.

The People's Party (PP) is missing a key piece in its solution plan for Catalonia: funding. Although it knows that without Catalonia's support, reaching the Moncloa Palace (the Spanish Prime Minister's residence) becomes much more difficult, it often plays on anti-Catalan sentiment, which benefits it abroad. That regional funding is an uncomfortable issue for the party led by Alberto Núñez Feijóo was made clear this week during the speech by the PP's Deputy Secretary for Economy, Alberto Nadal, at a luncheon organized by Pimec (the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Association). Following the presentation by Pimec President Antoni Cañete and his subsequent remarks, when Nadal was asked about Catalonia's fiscal deficit, which, according to 2022 data published by the government, ranges between 8.2% and 5.2% of GDP, he offered no answers. He argued that each autonomous community has its own interests and, therefore, should establish expert committees to determine their needs and then share them. Together, he said, they would be able to reform the model, conveniently ignoring the fact that the reforms implemented so far have always originated in Catalonia. Little else. He didn't quite convince the audience of an organization that had signed a document with seven other business and economic organizations demanding improvements to the Spanish government's funding proposal, the so-called G-8. The attendees applauded when Nadal pledged to lower taxes, deregulate, and repeal certain environmental and labor laws if he were to come to power in Spain. But on the issue of funding, the proposed solutions fell short.

The latest rail crisis has put the spotlight on freight trains, which were also brought to a standstill as a result of theGelida commuter train accidentIn which a train driver died. Rail transport still has very little weight in Catalonia's productive sector, with the vast majority of goods moving by road. Currently, rail accounts for only 4% of freight in Catalonia, far below the European average of 17%, although some are already talking about saturation on the tracks. The recent blockade has highlighted the precariousness of this network, and this is where Pimec is calling for it to be made more resilient. To this end, the main measure the employers' association is requesting is to double the tracks in order to separate freight traffic from passenger traffic. Currently, both national and international freight transport runs on the same tracks as commuter, regional, and high-speed trains. "Goods and people cannot pass through the same infrastructure: they have very different needs," criticizes Ignasi Sayol, president of Pimec Logistics. A request that has found consensus among all the political groups with which the employers' association met this Friday, with the exception of the CUP and Aliança Catalana, which did not attend.

The first measure the People's Party (PP) will take if it governs in Spain will be a "first tax reform" focused on recovering the income tax increase due to inflation in recent years. This is what the PP's Deputy Secretary for Economic Affairs, Alberto Nadal, stated at a luncheon organized by PIMEC in Barcelona. The other immediate initiative would be "to repeal the legal measures that hinder the rental market, as well as certain environmental and labor regulations." Referring to the policies advocated by Elon Musk in the US and Javier Milei in Argentina, Nadal, who served as Budget Secretary under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, asserted that "chainsaws don't exist, but files do." He also stated that when the PP was in power, it increased public spending at a rate lower than the economy's growth, thus "creating room to lower taxes."

The agreement between the Government, employers' associations (Foment del Treball and Pimec) and unions (UGT and CCOO) to pass the budget includes two points relating to the granting of sick leave. one of the most controversial topics of recent weeksThe agreement also underscores the need to "continue strengthening primary care"—the main manager of temporary disability (TD) claims—with an investment of up to €3.878 billion. It also includes the objective of "improving the entire care process" surrounding these procedures, "automating tasks and allowing for a reduction." Among these actions, the agreement indicates that an increase in situations where TD can be prescribed from the hospital is anticipated.

The Catalan government needs a budget to function properly. Currently, it is still operating under the extended 2023 budget, which severely limits the administration's room for maneuver and leaves it short of approximately €1.5 billion. This amount remains unused because new expenses or projects cannot be included due to the lack of a budget. This sum is equivalent to the annual allocation of departments such as the Department of Business and Labor or the Department of Universities and Research. The truth is, citizens deserve a government that operates with a budget that reflects the country's current needs, not figures that were based on the reality of three years ago. Furthermore, having a budget would allow the government to make the most of the resources generated by record tax revenues thanks to economic growth. This includes both taxes in which Catalonia participates, such as personal income tax (IRPF), and those collected directly and transferred to the government (inheritance and property transfer taxes) under the current financing system.

Catalan remains the primary language of Catalan companies. This is the main positive conclusion of a survey conducted by the employers' association Pimec among its members. However, the study also raises some concerns. The first is that, despite being the primary language, it is losing ground. Specifically, the surveyed companies perceive that its use has fallen by 10.9 percentage points compared to 2012. The second worrying conclusion is that, depending on the person they are communicating with, companies are increasingly switching languages. In fact, Pimec notes that the decline in Catalan's importance in business has occurred precisely because of the second concern: companies are increasingly adapting to the demands of their interlocutor, whether a client or a supplier. The survey indicates that 60.7% of companies switched languages ​​to adapt to the client in 2012, and now 71.2% do so. This shift occurs not only in oral communication but also in written communication. Written communications in Catalan addressed to clients accounted for 76% in 2012, but now stand at 55.5%. Furthermore, the use of languages ​​other than Catalan in these communications has increased by 20 percentage points. A decrease, albeit smaller, in the number of companies' websites in Catalan has also been observed. On a positive note, the study indicates that 65.6% of companies always or mostly communicate with their clients in Catalan, whether in person or by phone. This is in addition to the fact that 80.7% of SMEs use Catalan in their written communications to clients and suppliers, and that in the digital sphere, 74.5% of companies have a website in Catalan, while 49.5% publish almost all of their social media content in Catalan.