An INSEE study confirms the strong growth in self-employed employment in Reunion since the early 2000s. This category brings together a wide variety of activities, ranging from agriculture to commerce, going through the hairstyle, medicine, culture… The number of jobs there has increased by 3,5% per year on average between 2000 and 2020, against 1,3% in mainland France (outside Île-de-France). Réunion is one of the French departments where growth is the most significant, underlines INSEE and the rate of non-salaried employment in Reunion is close to the national average, which is not the case for other Doms. Early 2021, the island had 38,000 self-employed people. Their increase is mainly driven by microenterprises and liberal professions, which particularly attract young people and women. The most used status nevertheless remains that of the sole proprietorship., which represents 44% of the total. Income gaps are very significant among the self-employed, also notes the study. Micro-entrepreneurs have the lowest income (hors agriculture), but often carry out another activity. Without surprise, it is the liberal professions who have the highest incomes : 5,300 euros per month on average. In this category, a quarter of professionals (doctors, dentists, notaries, lawyers…) receive more than 7,000 euros per month. Other health professions are much less paid and the lowest incomes are those of self-employed people working in education., sports, leisure or continuing education.
The ever-increasing number of self-employed people
