Self-employed workers, to whom a bill will soon grant a unique status, would like to obtain an alignment of their social rights, which they consider weak, with those of employees, according to a study by Adie that AFP obtained on Tuesday .
The crisis acted as a revealing the limits of a social protection system built for employees and which still largely ignores the independents, notes the Association for the Right to Economic Initiative (Adie).
Compared to salaries, low-income self-employed workers pay more contributions for fewer rightsthey struggle to access housing and training, they face the risk of uncompensated unemployment…, she recalls.
According to a consultation conducted in the fall by OpinionWay with 1,149 independent entrepreneurs supported by Adie, 93% of them consider it urgent to converge their social rights with those of employees.
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59% of the self-employed, who can practice today under several legal statuses, want first and foremost unemployment rights and 49% want above all a better coverage of professional risks. Almost half of them (47%) say that their rights have deteriorated since they started.
Unlike wages, the self-employed cannot receive unemployment. Since 2019, they have benefited from a allowance for self-employed (ATI), whose duration is limited, as well as the amount (about 800 euros per month). In the event of a work stoppage, their daily allowances are also lower and longer to fire.
One in 10 self-employed workers lives below the poverty line
The restless retirement
According to Adie, France has 3.6million self-employed all legal statuses combined, which represent 11% of its working population. At identical incomes, their basic pension is globally similar to that of salaries, but the supplementary pension of the self-employed, when they can afford it, is very often lower than that of employees.
The subject is gaining momentum with the Covid-19 pandemic, confirms Jean-Guilhem Darr, secretary general of the Union of Independents. Social protection is rather weak. The rights of the self-employed are indexed to their resources, which fell in 2020 and 2021. What worries the most is retirement.
A bill, which should be adopted in February, provides in particular in the event of a severe blow to the separation of professional and personal assets independents, as well as the expansion of the ATI. At the end of January, the government also announced additional financial aid for certain categories of self-employed workers affected by the health crisis.
What will change for the independents
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