“With the approximately one million doctors, architects, lawyers or tax advisors, with their 2.9 million workers, around 400,000 jobs are at risk in the mid-term,” Arno Metzler, manager of the Federal Association of the Free Professions, told financial daily Handelsblatt, in an early release of Monday’s edition.
Metzler said he could not remember such difficult economic conditions for freelancers. “Architects and engineers are without contracts, while lawyers’ offices are having to let partners and co-workers go – and the doctors are confronting very difficult times with the sinking insurance contributions,” said Metzler.
The association celebrates its 60th anniversary on Wednesday, when Metzler will appeal to Chancellor Angela Merkel to consider providing state help for such small companies, not just the giants like Opel.
“Politicians must also help small freelancers with company credit in order to secure their own liquidity and shore themselves up against risks such as the insolvency of a third party,” he said.