Self-employed workers (Directive 2010/41/EU and some relevant provisions of the Recast Directive)

• Author: Nousiainen, Kevat
• Pages: 54-58

54

8 Self-employed workers (Directive 2010/41/EU and some relevant

provisions of the Recast Directive)

8.1 General (legal) context

8.1.1 Surveys and reports on the specific difficulties of s elf-employed workers

The European Commission’s ad hoc query into entrepreneurship in 2017 prompted

Statistics Finland to draft a special report on entrepreneurship.86 The study divided

entrepreneurs into three categories: agricultu ral entrepreneurs, employer entrepreneurs ,

and the self-employed. The last group consists of persons who are neither employed by

another nor employ others. The category covers persons who identify themselves as

entrepreneurs and those who are self-employed in a narrow sense, such as professionals,

freelancers not employed by others, and persons working on a grant. The number of self-

employed has risen and was circa 171 000 in 2017, and while other entrepreneur

categories were predominantly male, the self -employed were more evenly divided

between men and women.

Entrepreneurs in general have a lower level of education than employees, but the level of

education of self-employed resembles that of employees. The self- employed presented a

varied profile, the biggest of them being experts in law and social and cultural issues. The

income distribution of the self-employed diffe red from empl oyer entrepreneurs, as more

self-employed were in low income g roups, but many worked relatively short hours (circa

35 hours per week). The self-employed are not always well informed of their right to social

security. Entr epreneurs can define the level of their social securit y payments, and they

often end up with low benefits – 49 % of men and 43 % of women entrepreneurs thought

they had paid enough, often because they felt they could not afford a higher level . Some

self-employed even had private pensi on insurances. 58 % of the self-employed who had

children considered they had not been able to have long enough family-related leave. The

self-employed, as well as other entrepreneurs, are entitled to family-related leave, but the

right to leave is not used to full extent.

8.1.2 Other issues

There are no further issues to report.

8.1.3 Overview of national acts

Maternity, paternity and parental benefits are paid for all entrepreneurs and their spouses

under Chapter 9 of the Sickness Insurance Act (1224/2004). Provisions on how to calculate

the income – divided between spouses for tax and social welfare purposes – are addressed

in various Acts. The Act on Entrepreneurs’ Pensions (1272/2006) covers entitlement to an

old-age pension, pa rt-time pension, rehabilitation pension, disability pension, and family

pension for an entrepreneur’s widow or widower. The pension accrues in a manner similar

to employment-based pension schemes on the basis of o ccupational income, and it also

accrues during maternity, paternity, parental, and sickness leave periods. There is no

regulation as to how spouses or life partners run an enterprise (other than an agricultural

enterprise) together are to divide the income from the enterprise between themselves for

purposes of the entrepreneurs’ pension scheme.

Benefits are calculated on the basis of occupational income during a preceding period, and

persons without an income are entitled to minimum benefits on the grounds of residence.

The Act on Entrepreneurs’ Pensions (1272/200 6) covers entitlement to old-age pension,

86 The report consists of two parts: Yrittäjät Suomessa (Entrepreneurs in Finland), which is based on

questions defined by Eurostat, and of Yrittäjyys (Entrepreneurship), based on nationally defined questions.

Sutela, Hanna and Pärnänen, Anna Yrittäjät Suomessa (Entepreneurs in Finland), Statistics Finland 2018,

http://www.stat.fi/tup/julkaisut/tiedostot/julkaisuluettelo/ytym_201700_2018_21465_net.pdf.