Download the study "Cooperatives and Employment Second Global Report" here in English
Published by CICOPA, the organisation of the International Co-operative Alliance for industry and services, in September 2017, "Cooperatives and employment: a Global Report":
1- provides an update on the quantitative information on cooperative employment at the global level;
2- presents propositions to develop conceptual tools aimed at producing reliable information on work and employment in cooperatives;
3- examines the contribution of cooperatives to work and employment in informal
employment and in the new forms of work.
Based on data from 156 countries, the updated estimate shows that employment in or within the scope of cooperatives concerns at least 279.4 million people across the globe, in other words 9.46% of the world’s employed population. Out of this figure, 27.2 million work in cooperatives, including around 16 million cooperative employees and 11.1 million worker-members.
Employment within the scope of cooperatives, comprising mainly self-employed producer-members, concerns over 252.2 million people, the vast majority being in agriculture. The number of cooperatives throughout the world is 2.94 million and the number of members in all types of cooperatives is 1,217.5 million.
In addition, the present report pays special attention to the potential contribution of cooperatives to technological development and accompanying social change. In the changing world of work, cooperatives need to respond to new opportunities and challenges. The concepts of “platform cooperativism” and “commons” could usher in innovative ways of working in, and with, cooperatives in the 21st century. However, while fully recognizing the contribution made by these new concepts, this report proposes their combination with the tools and methods of the cooperative movement, which would strengthen and give concrete expression to the contribution they are able to make to address problems related to work and employment in the changing world of work.
