I am a native speaker and I agree with 'fewer' but I also agree it's a rather fine point. Because the commodity being described is discrete and not continuous

I am a native speaker and I agree with 'fewer' but I also agree it's a rather fine point. Because the commodity being described is discrete and not continuous (applicants), the terms describing them should also be discrete. Obviously, as real numbers, percentages are not inherently discrete. But when a percentage quantifies a discrete unit, the final quantity it describes is still discrete. Thus the unit still determines which word to use (fewer/less), and not the addition of further modifiers like 'percentage'.