Cuba’s private sector now employs over 1.6 million people, more than the state, according to an analysis by Juan Triana, an economist with the Center for the Study of the Cuban Economy, based at the University of Havana. (The state employs 1.5 million, according to the Ministry of Economy.) The private sector also offers workers better salaries and more job options than the state.
Since Cuba in 2021 lifted a ban on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), often called mipymes in Spanish, over 9,100 businesses have been approved and registered by the government, according to the latest government numbers published in September. In the last two years, Cuba’s small businesses have generated over 250,000 jobs, according to the government.
In the first six months of this year, SMEs imported $264 million and exported $6.3 million worth of goods, Cuba’s economy minister, Alejandro Gil, said before the national assembly in July. He predicted that by the end of 2023, the private sector will have imported $1 billion in goods.
