“To understand the importance of Emilia-Romagna cooperation, the data on turnover would be enough: 33.7 billion euros out of a total in Italy of 116.9 billion (or 30%) and 4,548 cooperative enterprises with over 235 thousand employees, 13 % of regional employment. And of the 30 largest companies in the area, 15 are cooperatives ». Thus begins the third edition of the biennial report on cooperation 2020-2021, prepared by the Regional Cooperation Council.
The Report was presented in Bologna on the occasion of the celebration of 2 July, International Day of Cooperation, this year dedicated to the contribution that the global cooperative system can make to the achievement, by 2030, of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. indicated by the UN to combat poverty, combat climate change and ensure equality and inclusion for all.
Emilia-Romagna first region
«Emilia-Romagna is the first region of Italy with a cooperative vocation in terms of employment, almost one in seven employees works in a cooperative company, just as 13% of the region’s GDP is linked to cooperation. There is the cooperative and mutualistic model behind the resilience of this territory and its ability to resist and innovate even in the most complex and difficult situations, with a long-term vision that supports economic growth, social development and environmental responsibility together “, underlines Francesco Milza, president of the Italian Cooperative Alliance of Emilia-Romagna.
The numbers
In the “Coop valley” of Italy, 13% of jobs are the prerogative of cooperative enterprises, compared to 8% in Italy, as is 13% of the regional GDP (4.4% the national average). In Emilia-Romagna, over 70% of employees in the social sector work in cooperatives, a percentage that exceeds 40% in business services, 30% in logistics, 20% in food, 17% in agriculture, 13% in hospitality and catering. 40% of the cooperative turnover in Emilia-Romagna derives from trade (Coop and Conad play a key role), a share that took on greater importance in the years of the pandemic, because trade increased the turnover by 6.6. %, while the cooperation held in volume but suffered in terms of companies (-7.4% the co-ops in the region between 2019 and early 2022, with double-digit drops between Modena and Piacenza) and of employees (-3.1 %, while the other legal forms have consolidated the previous numbers). Among the provinces, Rimini is the one with the lowest incidence of cooperatives on total employment (6%, less than half of the regional figure), Reggio Emilia the one with the highest value, almost 19%.
Mutuality as a development lever
«Cooperation represents a strategic, historical and identity component of our Region, and today it is the lifeblood that feeds fundamental sectors such as social and personal services. A reality that has also contributed to the protection and strengthening of the rights of workers, who in the vast majority, within the cooperative world of the Region, are indefinite, with a higher percentage of stabilization than in other sectors “, intervenes l ‘councilor for economic development and work of Emilia-Romagna, Vincenzo Colla. “The mutualistic and ethical principles of cooperation are shared assets on the territory, endorsed by the Pact for work and the climate, indispensable for relaunching the economy and achieving the common goal of building lasting prospects for future generations”, remarks the president of the Region, Stefano Bonaccini, who in the cooperative model sees the main road for the birth and diffusion of renewable energy communities and self-consumption on which Emilia-Romagna, first in Italy, has recently legislated.