Auto-entrepreneurs – After three years, 90% had an income lower than the minimum wage (SMIC) in their self-employed activity

In 2009, 328,000 people started an “auto-entreprise”, with half of these people carrying out a real economic activity. These active “auto-entrepreneurs” were similar to “traditional” business creators in their characteristics, but they earned a much smaller income from their activity: on average, 4,300 euros in annualised income in the first year, or three times less than traditional creators. They often had a salaried activity at the same time. Two years later, at the end of 2011, 102,000 were still active economically, but only 79,000 had been able to generate a positive income in a continuous manner over the three years. On average, the income they generated from their activity had increased, but for nine out of ten, it remained lower than the minimum wage (SMIC). While less than half managed to sustain their activity by increasing their turnover, less than one out of ten received an income comparable to that of other self-employed workers in their sector. Few of them left their self-employed activity to take on the traditional self-employed status.