Paris, 2nd June 2015
Supporting entrepreneurship and liberal professions among young people in France and in Europe
Also on behalf of Confprofessioni, I would first like to thank UNAPL for the invitation to this important initiative on a theme of great economic and social value. Confprofessioni is the most important association representing the Italian professions, it is a recognized social partner as a signatory party to the National Collective Labour Contract of the professional practices (the last agreement was signed with trade unions on 17th April), it participates in the political, economic and social dialogue with the Government, the Parliament, the Regions, the institutions. It is, therefore, well placed to observe the professional sector as a whole.
Italy is a particularly critical and complex context and, for this reason, it can constitute a useful "laboratory" to reflect on the changes and the great challenges facing the professional work in Europe.
The crisis severely hit the professional sector, that has been experiencing a fall in incomes in all its different areas. From 2008 to 2013, the average real income of professionals has fallen by more than 15%, and by 19% for those under 40 years. In addition, legislative reforms, which are not universally supported and sometimes have a punitive approach, should have liberalised and streamlined the regulatory framework, but they had a notable impact on professions and often haven’t been implemented.
Against these negative background, the world of Italian intellectual professions has not interrupted its steady growth in terms of number of people employed - professionals and employees of the practices - as well as in terms of contribution to GDP (12%) and development of competences and technological innovation.
We must place in this context the reflection on today's young professionals and, more generally, on the launching of professional work.
Given these general data, the number of those who chose the liberal profession is greatly increased in almost all the main regulated professions. These trends represent a challenge and certainly a problem, because of the professional market saturation (lawyers are 240.000, accountants are 160.000, to name only two categories).
However, we want to give a positive interpretation to these signs: they indicate the widespread recognition of the value of professional culture, intellectual freedom, the promotion of individual responsibility and initiative, which professional work traditionally promotes.
That said, of course we are the first one asking the question of how to support the entry into market of these young professionals and, more generally, the inter-generational balance in the professional market. It should be sufficient to recall that the income gap between professionals "under 40" and professionals "over 40" is now 50%.
A first question concerns the educational paths required to enter to professions. We have always denounced the serious shortcomings in the strategies of the University, who are not able to guarantee the connection between training and professional world. With few exceptions, young people finish the university with remarkable theoretical notions, but with very vague ideas about the real content of the professional work, the organisational reality of the profession and the advantages of choosing the liberal profession. It is not a problem of quotas, numerus clausus; it is, rather, a problem in the circulation of information and in the collaboration between universities and professional world, which if properly structured, would ensure the balance in the professional market, without compromising the freedom of choice of young people.
Not even the government appointed to facilitate the matching between supply and demand for labor have worked better: the impressive program "Youth Guarantee", which includes also actions to support self-employed and professional activities, is considered a “wasted opportunity”. Confprofessioni signed a first agreement with the Ministry of Labour and then with individual Regions.
A second issue is the traineeship. The guidelines were traced by the recent reform of the regulated professions, carried out by the Government and Parliament between 2011 and 2012 The reform provides for the reduction of the period of traineeship for most professions governed by orders, including also the opportunity to undertake part of the traineeship at the Universities. This reform, instead of promoting the building of high quality relations between the professional and the trainee, has reduced the period and moved a training which is by definition practical to institutions, Italian universities, that has always been subject to the inability to establish links with the world of work.
A much more interesting initiative saw the involvement of Confprofessioni in the definition of rules on apprenticeship for the professional practical work experience: since 2011 the legislation provides for the opportunity to use the apprenticeship contract for the trainees, referring the implementation to the social partners and the Regions. Confprofessioni strongly supported this possibility, that dignifies the work experience and give more guarantees to the work relation. We signed the first agreement in the pilot region of Marche: an experience that will expand throughout the national territory.
There is another need I wish to share with you: the need of an increasing internationalization of the young professionals. There are already mobility schemes for young professionals and self-employed workers, funded by European and national institutions, but we must firmly pursue an Erasmus program addressed to the trainees of the professions governed by orders. We think at the creation of a European network of professionals, which allows periods of traineeship abroad that are regularly recognised in the country of origin, in which the practitioner will obtain the professional qualification. The European traineeship could be financed by Community funds. Today is an excellent opportunity to launch UNAPL a proposal of collaboration on this project.
A third issue concerns taxes and social contributions, which in Italy are known to be heavy.
In our country there is a preferential system of taxation and social security, directed at young people, aimed at minimising fixed costs at the early stage of the activity: those who start an entrepreneurial activity, a craft or a profession can benefit from the preferential tax scheme in the first 5 years of the activity, and in any case up to 35 years of age of the taxpayer, provided that during the previous calendar year revenues and fees have not exceeded 30.000 euros. This system involves the application of a substitute tax which replaces ordinary income tax and additional taxes and is equal to 5% of the income. This is certainly an important tool to support young professionals.
There are also public interventions that include a contribution for the material launching of an enterprise or a professional practice, as well as for the realisation of innovation processes. The framework of the measures is very varied but unclear. Confprofessioni is striving to ensure that all programs - including of course European programs – lay down the absolute equality of professionals and SMEs, in accordance with the provisions defined by the European Commission.
A fourth and final question that I wish to comment on regards organisational forms and structural innovation of professional work.
In Italy, the greater part of the professionals work in individual professional firms: associated professional firms are a minority, and the diffusion of the recently introduced Company of professionals is very low, partly because of uncertainties of the regulatory framework, that we have been long pointing out.
This structure of the organisation of professional studies has ensured the strong independence of the professionals and the minimisation of the risks of conflicts of interest, however it is preventing investments in the innovation of support structures and the entrepreneurial development of the studies. The creation of groupings, also in the form of multi-professional practices and with the contribution of limited and controlled external funding, it is a chance that especially young professionals must pursue with confidence.
For their part, the national and European institutions should support these groupings, which alone will enable the absorption of young professionals in markets currently saturated. Why not imagine, for example, measures to support the Companies of professionals set up by young professionals, who intend to invest in technological innovation? In Italy it is possible to use funds targeted at the support of innovative start-ups, they are intended for enterprises, but also well suited for the Company of Professionals. In Europe, the Commission could suggest incentives for young professionals that constitute a Company of Professionals or associated practices with professionals from different countries of Europe: for once, the Commission would pursue the objective of integration through a support to the economy rather than through abstract regulatory action.