Informal Market Workers Seek Legalization

HAVANA TIMES, Dec. 28 — Unemployed persons working on the informal market represent 60 per cent of applicants for self-employment licenses, after the recent opening decreed by the government in 178 activities of this type, according to data from the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, reported IPS.

The Cuban government hopes to legalize much of the informal market activities and charge license fees and taxes to help face the economic crunch that will also lead to over a million layoffs, the first 500,000 by the end of the March 2011.