Earned income of self-employed persons in 2018 Further increase in the average earned income, stimulated by economic policies

At the end of 2018, 3.3 million people were self-employed in France, including 0.4 million in the agricultural sector. Excluding the agricultural sector, 37% of self-employed persons were micro-entrepreneurs. Between 2017 and 2018, the number of micro-entrepreneurs grew strongly again, in the context of a doubling of turnover ceilings to be eligible for this social regime, while the number of other (so called “traditional”) self-employed persons fell for the fifth consecutive year.

In 2018, traditional self-employed persons in non-agricultural sectors received an average of €3,820 per month, while the average earned income of micro-entrepreneurs was only €540. Several legislative measures adopted in 2018 contributed to the large increase in these average incomes, for the traditional self-employed persons (+4.8% in real terms between 2017 and 2018) and for the micro-entrepreneurs (+12.0%). Half of self-employed persons (excluding agriculture) earned less than €1,230 per month from their activity.