Inflation, social contributions and taxes are the main burden for self-employed businesses

In the ATA barometer, the self-employed are asked about the main issues they are facing in 2023 and so far in 2024, and which ones have had the biggest impact on their daily lives. “Rising prices (inflation) affects almost all self-employed people – 96.2%, taxes make business difficult for 90.7% of self-employed people surveyed, and paying contributions affects 91% of the group,” the report says.

The barometer also asks self-employed workers whether they have been forced to raise prices for their products or services as a result of the general rise in prices and the costs they incur. The finding is positive: 58.6% say they have had to raise prices given the ongoing rise in prices and costs. Faced with this, four in ten self-employed workers (39%) say they have absorbed the rise in costs and maintained last year’s prices. Looking to the future, the majority of self-employed workers, 63.7%, believe that if things continue as they are now, they will be forced to raise prices in the coming months.

Vacation

Another key aspect that is asked about in this edition of the survey is the anticipation of taking a vacation and the various reasons for doing so or not doing so. “It has been proven as Four in ten self-employed workers, 40.1%, say they will not take a few days off. throughout this summer. Of these, 14.9% do not do so because they cannot afford it financially, 16.5% do not do so because business management cannot afford it, and 8.7% note that their activity increases in the summer and cannot be caught unawares. a few days, but this will happen at other times of the year,” ATA reports.

In contrast, 58% of self-employed respondents will take a break during these summer months, of which 26.9% say they will, but it is impossible to switch off, and 22% indicate that they will take a few days off…rest, but less than they would like. Only 9.1% of self-employed respondents say they will take a vacation and switch off completely.

Business situation

The barometer also asks self-employed workers about their situation and business. “Since 2020, a series of events have occurred – the war in Ukraine, the shortage of raw materials, rising interest rates, escalating prices – which have made the continuity of many activities carried out by self-employed workers very difficult,” says the main statement. state. Association of the Self-Employed.

Through the mouth of your president, Lorenzo Loveto pay attention, despite everything, to the good tone demonstrated by the group. “Despite this, this survey maintains the trend of the previous barometer and shows that politics and our labor market are going in different directions. The self-employed and companies continue to create jobs and stimulate economic activity with new business initiatives, despite everything,” says Amor.

The numbers show in this sense improving prospects for the self-employed. “If in the January 2024 barometer we said that only 23.7% of the self-employed registered growth in their business, then in April this percentage rose to 30.5%, and in this barometer they are already 31.5% of the self-employed. respondents say that their development is better than last year,” the report says. Moreover, the percentage of those who say that their business has declined increased from 35.7% in January to 27.3% in April and to 25.6% in July, which is ten percentage points less than at the beginning of the year.

Looking ahead to the coming months, the ATA says the outlook “remains promising” with one in four self-employed workers believing their business will improve in the coming months and even 8.5% planning to increase their workforce.

The downside of business is the costs, which forces the self-employed to raise prices for their products and services. Three out of four self-employed workers, 74.7%, claim that their costs have increased over the past twelve months. And of these, 74% estimate the increase to be up to 15%. Likewise, one in five self-employed workers, 21.4%, confirm that their costs were similar to those recorded last year, and only 3.6% of self-employed workers surveyed claim to have experienced a reduction in their costs last year.