02 September 2010

How do UK worker co-operatives compare to the rest of the world

I seem to be doing a lot of internationally focused blogs at the moment, if anyone wants me to cover a domestic worker co-operative issue, or write one themselves, get in touch.

Ever year Co-operatives UK sends data on worker co-operatives to CECOP (our European Federation). This helps CECOP lobby the EU on behalf of the movement and collectively show our strength. For those interested, here's a summary the information. 

Something to reflect on (if your that way inclined) are the terms social co-operative and artisan co-operative, which are terms we don't use in the UK.  I have loosely defined them below and keep meaning to write a blog on them both. 

None of the figures include social co-operatives as we just don't classify co-operatives in that way. For artisan co-operatives, I've looked for co-operatives of self-employed people that come together in a co-operative to produce stuff/deliver a service. These are usually referred to as consortia co-operatives in the UK but that term also includes consortia of very large buying groups like www.bako.co.uk , agricultural machinery rings etc, so its really isn't comparable.

The 90 collected below are an attempt to record these types of co-operatives and are predominantly: taxi firms like www.dialacab.co.uk (sadly not a member, if anyone can make an introduction...), arts and crafts consortia like: www.woolclip.com and professionals like: www.theverypeople.co.uk, www.uhc.org.uk.


Numbers of organisations

As we do not have data on every co-operative in the UK, this will be an underestimate and should only be used as a general guide to the sector (these figures are always changing as we get new data).



Worker/
 social 1
coops
Artisans coops2
TOTAL
Number of enterprises39290482
Number of enterprises being SME’s339289481
Number of workers (members and non members)214040026142
Total number of members of all types e.g. volunteers, investors63446577291

1 Social co-operatives are multi-stakeholder (predominantly worker/volunteers) that delivers public services (mainly in Italy).
2 Artisan Co-operatives are consortia’s of self employed people who come together predominantly Arts, Crafts, like pottery etc.
3 Define SME as greater than 250 workers or turnover greater than 50 millions €

Size of Co-operative Economy
Worker co-ops in membership of Co-operatives UK = £129m
Worker co-ops in economy = £146m
Artisan/professional co-operatives in membership = £900,000
Artisan/professional co-operatives in economy = £40.9m 
(predominately down to a few very large taxi firms)
Whole co-operative economy = £33.5bn

Lives and Deaths
185 have been creating since 2005, 101 of them members or affiliated to Co-operatives UK. 
33 have closed down over this period (that we know of).

Gender balance of Directors
Male Directors =565
Female Directors = 429 


Industry Sectors 
CECOP uses an International Industrial Classification Systems, so the figures may not be the same as others  figures I might have published in previous posts. I've attached the Spreadsheet, in Google Doc form here. for the juicy details and sub categories.  Again there is a health warning with this data, as it is our interpretation of information we have available.
ISIC & NACE CodesNACE Description Total
AAGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHING13
CMANUFACTURING13
EWATER SUPPLY; SEWERAGE, WASTE MANAGEMENT 6
GWHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE 62
HTRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE19
IACCOMMODATION AND FOOD SERVICE ACTIVITIES16
JINFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION26
MPROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES106
NADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPORT SERVICE ACTIVITIES14
PEDUCATION33
QHUMAN HEALTH AND SOCIAL WORK ACTIVITIES52
RARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION79
SOTHER SERVICE ACTIVITIES41

If you have not yet lost he will to live with too many figures, here some tid-bits from the last report from CECOP of how we compare with the rest of Europe:

Number of worker co-operatives in membership of a CECOP member

CountryN° of Co-operatives
Bulgaria268
Czech Republic252
Denmark110
Estonia3
Finland70
France1893
Germany97
Italy18151
Malta28
Poland340
Portugal51
Romania526
Slovakia90
Spain25486
UK170
Total47535

Industry Sectors (where they have data)


NACEN° of Co-ops
A AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY AND FISHING388
B MINING AND QUARRYING 11
C MANUFACTURING 2452
D ELECTRICITY, GAS, STEAM AND SUPPLY 16
E WATER SUPPLY; SEWERAGE, WASTE MANAGEMENT167
F CONSTRUCTION 1930
G WHOLESALE AND RETAIL TRADE995
H TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE 1409
I ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD SERVICE ACTIVITIES 536
J INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION 872
K FINANCIAL AND INSURANCE ACTIVITIES 26
L REAL ESTATE ACTIVITIES 128
M PROFESSIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ACTIVITIES 1966
N ADMINISTRATIVE AND SUPPORT SERVICE ACTIVITIES 2323
O PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION18
P EDUCATION 1328
Q HUMAN HEALTH AND SOCIAL WORK ACTIVITIES 3196
R ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION 1340
S OTHER SERVICE ACTIVITIES 1011
T ACTIVITIES OF HOUSEHOLDS25

I hope you enjoy, if you have any questions, comments please get in touch

1 comment:

Sion Whellens said...

Blimey John, good work - it'll take me a while to digest this! The focus on international worker co-ops is very important for us in the UK, if we're to educate the wider movement about the strategic importance of worker co-operation. Stick at it, and thanks.