Unemployment insurance model for freelancers and the self-employed

In contrast to employees with unemployment insurance, the self-employed and freelancers have no insurance to compensate them financially in the event of a drop in orders or total unemployment. Syndicom, a trade union in the communications and media sector, has developed a model to fill this gap: ALV-S unemployment insurance.

Annette Dannecker 78% of the self-employed and freelancers surveyed by syndicom stated that they were unable to build up any or sufficient financial reserves to protect themselves against loss of earnings under the current regime. For this reason, an unemployment insurance scheme was developed that is financed in equal parts by the self-employed person and their clients.

Since music teachers are also often partially or fully self-employed, this insurance for the unemployed is an exciting approach that needs to be looked at more closely:

In principle, an additional 4% ALV-S should be charged on every order - i.e. in our case on a single music lesson or a semester contract - in the same way as ALV for salaried employees. These 4% are paid into an insured person's account. The self-employed person also pays 4% into an ALV-S savings account. He/she then "owns" two private accounts with the unemployment insurance fund, which he/she cannot access directly. He/she will receive the deposits in the savings account back on retirement or if he/she gives up self-employment. This account is used up first in the event of total or partial unemployment. The insurance account is only debited afterwards. This is intended to prevent people from pretending to be unemployed, as they would effectively be cheating themselves by withdrawing their savings in advance. However, no third-party funds would be withdrawn. The insurance account remains in the possession of the insurance company in the event of retirement or cessation of self-employment in order to maintain employment offices similar to the RAVs and to cover all administrative costs.

In the event of total unemployment, the self-employed person will receive 80% of their average salary from self-employment to cover running costs such as studio rent, instrument maintenance and living expenses, so that they can continue to focus on attracting new students.

But would our pupils be prepared to pay 4% more for a lesson, i.e. CHF 104 for a lesson that used to cost CHF 100? Would our pupils bear these additional costs so that their teacher has social security? Or would the teachers often have to bear the entire 8% themselves?

The question arises as to whether the insurance should be declared compulsory in order to prevent a teacher from being left without cover in the event of unemployment because they have not taken out insurance for fear of not being able to afford it or because they feel they cannot expect the 4% surcharge from the pupils.

If you would like to find out more about this model, you can find further information at: www.syndicom.ch/branchen/visuelle-kommunikation/alvfuerselbstaendige

The model was submitted for consultation this February and everyone is invited to comment on it.

Please send any suggestions for improvement to Annette Dannecker (at annette.dannecker@smpv.ch), which she collects and forwards to syndicom. She is also happy to answer questions about the jobless insurance model.

The SMPV will be actively involved in this consultation and will accompany the process, as music teachers have different requirements than media professionals and these must be taken into account when the model is finalized.