• In 2016 and until the third quarter of 2017, a total of 12,767 new jobs were generated.
• The Spanish Social Economy Strategy and the Public Procurement Law, the main advances for the Cepes activity in the last year.
• Spain is consolidated as a benchmark in the Social Economy sector in Europe, following the re-election of Juan Antonio Pedreño as President of Social Economy Europe.
Madrid, May 22, 2018.- The Social Economy sector in Spain created a total of 3,100 new companies between 2016 and the third quarter of 2017, according to data from the Ministry of Employment and Social Security presented on Tuesday by CEPES framework of its XXVI Annual General Assembly .
In this same period, 12,767 new jobs were generated . In total, there are more than 43,400 Social Economy companies that employ 2,231,607 people throughout Spain between direct and indirect jobs within the sector.
Of the total of employees, 1,182,346 are farmers and ranchers associated with cooperatives, while the partners and salaried workers in this type of company are 319,792. On the other hand, the number of self-employed people in the Social Economy already reaches 337,657 and the number of workers with disabilities is 92,102.
By type of company, cooperatives, with 20,958 entities, continue to be the most numerous modality, followed by labor companies. By autonomous communities, cooperatives are present mainly in Catalonia, Andalusia, the Valencian Community, the Basque Country, the Region of Murcia, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León.
With regard to labor companies, there are a total of 63,471 working and salaried partners in this type of company. Regarding their number, these were calculated in a total of 9,234 in 2017.
As in the case of cooperatives, labor companies are mainly present in the regions of Andalusia, the Community of Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, the Basque Country, the Region of Murcia and Castilla y León.
MAIN ADVANCES
The Spanish Social Economy Strategy 2017-2020 and the approval of the Law on Public Sector Contracts have been two of the main advances made in the activity of Cepes in the last year and during the first months of 2018
The development of the first is to continue the Government's commitment to this business model that already represents 10% of GDP and 12.5% of employment . According to Cepes, the Strategy should, together with other initiatives linked to sustainable development, provide the Social Economy with measures that "contribute to the creation of a labor market that offers sustainable and inclusive growth to workers and closes the labor the inequality. "
For its part, the Public Sector Contracts Law has responded to Cepes' request so that the call for public tenders meets social criteria and not only the most advantageous economic offer .
In this regard, it should be noted that CEPES has just published a guide on responsible public procurement, adapted to the new regulations and which includes an analysis of the possibilities offered by the new legal framework and resolves the most common doubts in the bids. In addition, it incorporates, as a proposal, models of clauses susceptible of being incorporated into the public procurement documents with full legal guarantees.
INTERNATIONAL
In the international arena, Espa & ntilde has been consolidated as a benchmark in the Social Economy sector in Europe, following the recent re-election last April of Juan Antonio Pedreño as President of Social Economy Europe .
Also, in 2017, Spain and 10 other EU member states signed the 'Madrid Declaration' , which calls for a European action plan and sets out a series of recommendations to the European Commission to strengthen and develop the Social Economy in Europe, which It already accounts for 8% of GDP, 2,800,000 companies and 13.6 million jobs.
The action of CEPES in Europe has contributed in this way to transfer to the European Social Economy a proactive attitude, based on work and dialogue with all institutions, political groups, States, social agents, trade unions and other actors within the sector to place this business model at the center of the European agenda.
Equally, Cepes was present last year on the European Day of Social Economy Enterprises and participated in the National Congress of Social Economy of Portugal in Lisbon, as well as, through Social Economy Europe, in the event of the European Commission on 'The role of the Social Economy in the future of work' in Gothenburg, prior to the European Social Summit.
