under capitalism, small (typically family) business owners and independent "enterpreneurs" are no more than another kind of proletarians, working their asses off for the dream, but making hardly enough to pay mostly rents (space, credit, ...), with little left for workers' and their own salaries, but without any of the assurances and protections that some jurisdictions have for workers, such as time limits, vacations, ... think of the precarious situation of uber drivers, food deliverers and whatnot, and see how owners of small shops, restaurants, etc are not so different. I guess the more assurances law gives lawful workers, the more the Market will promote small businesses to work around them to extract more value from the vulnerable