Self-employment reaches 20% of the population of Lanzarote

 A report prepared by the Business Confederation of Lanzarote (CEL) on the development of the “Business Advisory Service” project shows that in April 2026 there were 12,640 people contributing to the Special Regime for Self-Employed Workers (RETA) on the Island, which represents practically one in every five people employed on the Island. 

The president of the CEL, Beatriz Salazar explains that “this percentage, which reaches 20%, is clearly above the regional average, which barely exceeds 16%,” a figure that demonstrates the importance of the work carried out through this project, with the financing of the Cabildo de Lanzarote.

“This free advisory service is a very effective tool to support entrepreneurship and the consolidation of new business projects on the Island,” she adds.

Likewise, Beatriz Salazar highlights that this positive evolution of employment, both general and self-employed, exceeds the growth rate of the Canary Islands as a whole, a trend to which initiatives promoted by the business organization have contributed, such as the “Empleabilidad Lanzarote 2025/2026” and “Servicio de Asesoramiento Empresarial” projects, provided both in person at its headquarters and through digital channels via its website.

During the first four months of the year, the number of affiliations to RETA increased by 120 people compared to December 2025, representing a growth of 0.96%, also above the increase recorded in the Archipelago as a whole, where the rise was 0.76%.

By sectors, the greatest progress in absolute terms occurred in services, which went from 10,310 affiliated people at the end of 2025 to 10,455 in April of this year. However, the most significant percentage increase was recorded in industry, where the incorporation of 30 new self-employed workers represented a growth of 6.74%.

In the opposite direction, construction evolved, a sector that experienced a decrease of 60 affiliated people to RETA, representing a drop of 4.11%.

So far in 2026, this service has already assisted more than thirty entrepreneurs and businesswomen, carrying out more than 220 advisory and management procedures. These actions have made it possible to materialize, for the moment, 25 new registrations in RETA during the first quarter of the year, corresponding to 12 women and 8 men.

The Lanzarote Business Confederation underlines that these data reflect the dynamism of the island's economic fabric and the growing interest in self-employment as a formula for professional development and generation of economic activity.