By SudOuest.fr with AFP
According to this study, 11.7% of the self-employed have an annual activity income of less than 50% of the net minimum wage
A little more than one in ten self-employed workers earns less than half of the annual minimum wage and lives below the poverty line, according to an INSEE study published on Wednesday. In 2019, France had more than 3 million self-employed workers, in a wide variety of activities, from farmers to artisans, including delivery men and VTC drivers.
According to this study by the Statistical Institute, 11.7% of the self-employed earn very little and live below the poverty line, that is to say have annual activity income below 50% of the minimum wage. net income and a standard of living below the monetary poverty line (1,102 euros per month in 2019).
Limits
In 2018 and 2019, four out of ten self-employed had declared activity income lower than the annual minimum wage and for more than a quarter (27%), lower than half of the minimum wage.
Women with self-employed status more often have very low incomes: 30% earn less than half of the annual minimum wage against 26% of men. However, low income from work does not necessarily lead to poverty, according to INSEE. The income of a spouse or the receipt of social benefits can have a “protective effect”.
“The monetary approach to poverty” also has its limits “insofar as part of the consumption expenditure (of the self-employed) can be integrated directly into the accounts of their company or operation” such as energy or housing expenditure .
This is why INSEE estimates that “if the monetary poverty rate of the self-employed is significantly higher than that of employees, as a whole they are no more confronted than employees with material and social deprivation”.