The number of self-employed workers in the EU has not increased over the last twenty-five years and has fallen from 15.4% to 13.7% between 2010 and 2022, Eurofound reports.
This decline was primarily due to the decline in self-employment among men and the imbalance between the withdrawal of older self-employed workers from the labour market and the creation of new self-employment.
Using data from the European Telephone Survey of Working Conditions 2021, Eurofound’s new report “Self-employment in the EU: Job quality and changes in social protection” examines the working conditions of different groups of self-employed and analyses measures taken at Member State level to better protect these individuals from the risks of unemployment, work accidents and sickness. It also presents lessons learnt from measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report pays particular attention to the situation of the dependent self-employed. They are defined as a working relationship in which the worker is formally self-employed, but the working conditions are similar to those of dependent workers.
In 2021, 9% of self-employed workers were dependent on only one or a few clients, had little or no autonomy in running their business and could therefore be classified as economically dependent. Eurofound data shows that self-employed are twice as likely as salaried workers to indicate that they are struggling to make ends meet.
These differences are partly due to the high proportion of self-employment in the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic. Speaking on the publication of the report, Eurofound’s head of research, Tina Weber, said that differences persist between groups of self-employed workers and between employees. This needs to be addressed to ensure that coverage is not only formal, but also effective and adequate, while avoiding disincentives to the creation of high quality self-employment.
