For hours worked, more than a quarter of self-employed people earn less than half of the annual minimum wage. INSEE draws these conclusions from the analysis of the income declarations of this socio-professional category.
In 2019, mainland France had more than three million self-employed people. The activities they carry out are very varied as well as the income they earn from them.. They are farmers, electricians, restaurateurs, hairdressers, pharmacists, lawyers or even artists. A little more than one in ten independents (12 %) lives below the poverty line and more than a quarter (27 %) earns less than half of the annual minimum wage. This is indicated by an INSEE report carried out based on the results of the latest survey on tax and social income for 2018 and 2019.. It shows that there are more of them among women in this case., young people starting their professional life, those who continue an activity beyond the age of 65 or those who exercise an information profession, arts and entertainment. However, the perception of low income does not necessarily lead to a situation of monetary poverty. Indeed, the income of a working spouse or the receipt of social benefits can have a protective effect. So, with or without children, the self-employed are much more affected by monetary poverty when they do not live as a couple.
First concerned : artists and farmers
Half of the self-employed working in an information profession
n, of arts and entertainment earns very little. They only represent 3% of the self-employed but they have the highest proportion of people earning very little (51% have an income less than half of an annual minimum wage) and people living in a household living below the poverty line (28 %). In this socio-professional category, they are notably visual artists, artistic executives of audiovisual and entertainment or even literary authors. Many farmers also have very low incomes.. Among them, 38% earn very little and 26% live below the poverty line. As for traders, they more often have very low incomes than artisans (26% co be 19%) but live a little less under the sole of poverty.
Women, young and old people more affected
Women carrying out their activity under self-employed status more often receive low income than men (30% earn less than half the minimum wage compared to 26% for men). Among them, 12% work under the status of family help of a farmer or collaborating spouse of an artisan, trader or liberal professional. In return for their collaboration, family helpers receive no remuneration. The proportion of men and women earning very little and living below the poverty line is identical (almost 12%). Younger self-employed people more often have very low earned income. More than a third of self-employed people under 30 (35 %) receive low income from work. In this age group, they are twice as often micro-entrepreneurs as all self-employed people (48% versus 24%). And most often artisan (32 %), category which notably includes home delivery people or VTC drivers.
SOURCES
The statistics underlying this study are taken from the Tax and Social Income surveys (ERFS) from 2018 and 2019. In 2019, the survey is based on a sample of 49,500 households in mainland France, from the INSEE employment survey, on their tax returns, as well as the social benefits they received. More data on ww.insee.fr.
