They have borne the brunt of the health crisis.
Self-employed workers have, according to an Odoxa survey for Union Indépendants and Les Echos, seen for many their pay drop due to the health crisis.
60% of them even declare that their net income has become insufficient to live decently.
Read also: Covid-19: the CPME calls for specific aid for the self-employed in difficulty
According to this study carried out among 2,000 independent workers and 1,000 French people, the income of these self-employed workers has indeed plummeted in connection with the fall in their turnover, which stood at 38,679 euros per year on average (-17% ).
The median turnover suffered an even bigger fall (-23%).
More and more self-employed people have thus seen themselves fall below the poverty line due to the health crisis.
While a quarter of them said they earned less than 1,000 euros a month in 2019, they were 34% in 2020.
How to explain this brutal insecurity?
First, 27% of self-employed workers saw their activity come to a halt due to an administrative shutdown.
27% of them also faced late payments.
Finally, 43% regret the red tape and administrative constraints which have forced them to reduce their activity.
State support appreciated
During this year of economic slump, the self-employed, on the other hand, were able to appreciate the compensatory aid offered by the government.
Among them: access to the solidarity fund for certain companies, to a loan guaranteed by the State, or the postponement of certain payments, such as charges or tax deadlines.
58% of the self-employed interviewed by Odoxa thus declared themselves satisfied with the aid offered by the State.
The self-employed, on the other hand, feel much less supported by banks and insurance companies, which only satisfy 32% of them in this period of crisis.
Read also: Covid-19: towards a difficult exit from the crisis for the independents
The year 2021 remains marked by the health crisis and in turn represents a challenge for the self-employed.
Last week, the Confederation of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (CPME) drew attention to these workers suffering from the crisis, and called for specific measures to help them cope with the economic consequences.
The CPME had thus requested the suspension of the registration in the file of incidents of repayment of loans to individuals (FICP) for self-employed workers "who
have never experienced a payment incident before March 2020
", as well as the possibility of postponing loan deadlines for the purchase of their primary residence at the end of the loan, as can be done for professional loans.
Without following up on these proposals at this stage, the government is maintaining for the duration of the new confinement the aid that had hitherto been in force.