Interessenvertretung von Solo-Selbstständigen

Representation of interests of the solo self-employed The socio-political representation of interests of the solo self-employed appears inadequate when considering that over 2.3 million persons comprising 6 % of the German labour force are self-employed without employees. Since there are no major associations representing their interests, we conducted 30 interviews with experts in selected sectors (trades and crafts, architecture, journalism, health care, IT-service) following the question: What role do the interests of solo self-employed play within the policies of established chambers, associations, unions and networks? Our findings show that especially chambers and associations rarely have firm positions concerning these workers. This may result from the fact that they are a hardly visible group within the group of members and also from the heterogeneity of their interests (mainly due to considerable income differences). On the one side self-employed workers are normatively ascribed as entrepreneurs and in other cases perceived as being similar to employees. Both conceptions underestimate the simultaneous effect of both features. Our exploratory study reveals the continuing demand for exchange and cooperation – nationally as well as internationally – between organisations which are committed to interest representation for those working as solo self-employed.