Blog Articles

Last week the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held the closing event of the project on social enterprises. I was invited to contribute to the panel “Job and business creation – unleashing the potential of the sector”.

I gave some examples from our members of how social economy enterprises represent an important and growing employment potential but also contribute to local development, social inclusion and cohesion as economic actors.

Social economy enterprises have shown their capacity to create and maintain employment during the crisis. Our member CECOP argues that employment in social cooperatives  has grown by 4.5% in 2010 in Italy compared to the previous year. CECOP’s Spanish member COCETA also reports 13,336 new jobs in the service sector in 2011.

Associations, social cooperatives and work integration social enterprises (WISEs) have a long tradition and expertise in social and professional integration for persons with disabilities and people in need. These employers generally create a working environment where workers in vulnerable situations work together with high qualified workers in an efficient way. More than just providing a job, WISEs invest in training of vocations skills ensuring tailored jobs for persons with specific needs. In cooperatives workers with such needs are allowed to take part in the control and management of the enterprise as long as they are able to do so.

According to Housing Europe, it is estimated that to refurbish 800,000 social housing dwellings to the highest standards each year, 200,000 jobs will be created on a yearly basis, thus contributing to improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Our member ENSIE adds that WISEs are pioneers in the green sector of reusing, repairing and recycling.

Entrepreneurship is one of the ways for some young people to solve their unemployment situation. Member states should support young people to create their enterprises, and especially social economy enterprises since they increase young people’s empowerment.

Our member the European Women’s Lobby is carrying out an interesting project on women in social enterprises and how social enterprises improve the lives of women.

Heather Roy, former President of Social Platform and Board Member of Social Service Europe, mentioned that from 2005 to 2011 five million more people were employed in social, health and care sectors. Many of our members are indeed non-profit social, health and care service providers.

Social economy enterprises are clearly part of a sector that is job-intensive with high potential for employment creation, largely due to demographic and societal changes. Therefore it is an area for smart investment for public authorities and private investors. To unleash the potential of the sector, what is needed is an investment strategy in contrast to austerity measures, promotion of quality employment, development of social dialogue, smart use of the new public procurement directive and the structural funds, investment in education, vocational training, recognition of qualifications and of informal and non-formal education. We hope that the European Commission and member states will engage in concretely supporting the sector.