European small businesses face rising costs as Spanish freelancers start months 125 in debt
Small businesses across Europe are struggling under the weight of rising costs, with Spain’s self-employed workers facing mounting financial pressures. A study by the Unión de Profesionales y Trabajadores Autónomos (UPTA) found that Spanish freelancers start each month with an average of €125 in fixed expenses before generating any revenue, with some, like Cristian Fernández in Cádiz, reporting monthly overheads of nearly €3,000, including rent, utilities, and vehicle costs .
The number of self-employed workers in Spain reached 3.47 million in August, a 1.9% increase from 2025, but the retail sector has seen a sharp decline, dropping from 750,000 to fewer than 650,000 over the past decade. Eduardo Abad, president of UPTA, noted that traditional commerce has become economically unviable, pushing entrepreneurs toward higher-skilled sectors such as energy supply, telecommunications, and IT consulting, which have seen double-digit growth in affiliations .
In Slovakia, purchasing power has fallen, adding to the strain on workers and businesses, according to a news digest published on Sept. 2 . The broader economic squeeze is also evident in the Netherlands, where the government’s delay in reforming wealth taxes risks a €2.4 billion revenue shortfall by 2028, according to union leader Hans Spekman .
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