The Ifop survey for Welfaire gets the nearly 4.6 million self-employed workers talking about their perspectives, their constraints and their attachment to their status.
According to the Ifop barometer carried out for Welfaire, the first mutual health and insurance company dedicated to independent entrepreneurs, 60% of self-employed workers say they are optimistic about their activity, but 60% say they are pessimistic about the future in general. The scope includes nearly 4.6 million individual entrepreneurs, liberal professions and traders.
Individual confidence, national pessimism
The vision of the French economy is particularly harsh. Barely 12% of respondents say they are optimistic about the political situation. Among older independents, 91% say they are pessimistic on this same question, compared to 74% among those under 30. The commerce sector is the most worried, both for the future and for the political situation, with 97% pessimistic.
In terms of prospects, almost half of self-employed people (47%) anticipate stagnation in their activity in the coming months. Only one in four envisage growth, including 4% strong growth, while 24% fear a decline, including 9% a significant decline.
Taxation, procedures and attachment to status
On the tax front, 91% of self-employed people believe that the taxes applied to them are too high. They cite the stacking of income tax, VAT, business property tax (CFE), withholding tax in installments and social security contributions on profit or turnover. In the same spirit, 89% consider that the burden of administrative procedures represents a real obstacle to the development of their activity.
“Whether you are Parisian or in the region, a liberal nurse or a consultant, the risks are not the same, the behaviors are not the same. The feeling of being a small business owner and the vision in relation to taxation, to administrative burden, on the other hand, is the same”, summarizes Jérémie Herscovic, co-founder and general director of Welfaire.
The barometer also highlights a high level of satisfaction in terms of autonomy (94%), interest and content of work (88%), material conditions (80%) and balance between professional and personal life (79%). On the other hand, only 44% say they are satisfied with their income and 43% say they are dissatisfied with job security. Despite these constraints, independent workers remain overwhelmingly attached to their status: they say they love what they do and value their freedom, which demonstrates the key role of this status in economic life.
