CECOP SNAPSHOT 2022 - 2023:  An overview of industrial and service cooperatives

According to the figures, CECOP represents approximately 43,000 cooperatives contributing to the European economy with an average annual turnover of 60 billion euro. They primarily operate in the services sector (73%), industry (14%) and construction (12%). When it comes to typologies, most cooperatives are worker cooperatives (72%), followed by social cooperatives (27%). 

Our cooperatives work towards achieving equity and inclusion in the workplace. Employing over 1.3 million workers, they contribute to build a stable, participatory, inclusive and quality jobs, promoting economic democracy and social cohesion across Europe. For instance, data report that 72% of the workers are members, meaning they actively participate in the decision making and strategic planning of the cooperative, and that 85% of the employment contracts are long term.  

Some country specific data show cooperatives contribution to the work inclusion of vulnerable groups. For instance, 33% of workers in the cooperatives affiliated to our Bulgarian and Czech members are people with disabilities, while over half of the workers in the cooperatives affiliated with our Italian and Czech members are women.  

The data collection also explored cooperatives affiliation and disaffiliation trends, where the latter tend to occur due to the closure rather than dissatisfaction toward the federations. 

Finally, data on members perception about the economic and employment situation in affiliated cooperatives mostly report stability for the period 2022 – 2023. This confirms the cooperative resilience despite the negative socio-economic features of 2022-2023, such as the war in Ukraine, rising energy prices, disruption of international value chains and inflation. 

This publication has been funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.