Friday, April 02, 2021
Consequences of the corona crisis
Solo self-employed suffer particularly
The economic effects of the fight against the Corona crisis are being felt differently by people. According to a survey, self-employed people in the liberal professions are particularly affected. They include doctors, lawyers and journalists.
According to a report, the corona crisis often has far-reaching consequences for self-employed people in the liberal professions. For 37.7 percent of them, the year 2020 was bad or very bad, as the newspapers of the Funke media group report, citing a survey by the Institute for Liberal Professions. For 19 percent of the solo self-employed in this area, the economic damage so far is therefore a threat to their existence.
The liberal professions include many different activities. They include doctors and veterinarians, lawyers and notaries, architects, midwives and journalists.
“Some of the liberal professions are working well beyond the attack to ward off the consequences of the pandemic, on the other hand the situation with other professionals remains delicate,” said the President of the Federal Association of Liberal Professions (BFB), Wolfgang Ewer. “The challenge is particularly great for self-employed people and small companies with up to five employees.”
Problems with the Corona aid
For freelancers with up to five employees, the survey showed, according to the report, that 26.1 percent rate the past year as bad to very bad economically. 7.1 percent see the continued existence of their company as threatened.
Corona aid applied for four out of ten freelancers last year. Many stumbled upon problems with the application: According to the survey, the conditions for receiving the aid were particularly unclear. The second most common problem that freelancers cited was that they could not find suitable help.
The conditions for Corona aid have to be formulated “understandably, precisely and selectively,” demands Ewer. In addition, politics must show perspectives and give confidence through reliability – “precisely because the crisis is becoming more and more difficult and reserves are being used up”.
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