The self-employed have paid a heavy price, often more than employees, during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the new edition of the European Commission’s quarterly review on Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE), published on Friday 26 March.
According to the review, 58% of the self-employed expected the coronavirus pandemic to have ‘serious’ financial consequences for them. This average rate was higher than that of the different categories of employees, i.e. 36% for managers, 49% for other white-collar workers and 53% for blue-collar workers. According to a European Parliament survey, the pandemic has had a negative impact on 75% of the self-employed, compared to 55% of employees.
The self-employed experienced a more pronounced contraction in hours worked than employees. The authors point out that many of the sectors most heavily affected by the pandemic are those with a proportionally large share of self-employed workers, such as construction, arts, entertainment and recreation, accommodation and food service. This is particularly true for the primary sector (agriculture, forestry and fisheries), where the self-employed account for more than half of the workforce.
To access the review: https://bit.ly/2PdbDXU (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)