Database of cooperatives in Italy

Project status: on-going

Since 2010, Euricse has been working intensely on the gathering and organization of statistical information about Italian cooperative enterprises, with the aim of building an integrated database which will be regularly updated with information (including financial and economic data and employment figures) about Italian cooperatives and social enterprises formed in accordance with Italian Law 155/2006.

Currently, this database integrates data extracted from:

1. Aida database

2. Archives of INPS (Italian national social security agency)

3. Regional registers of social cooperatives

4. Special section for social enterprises of the Companies’ Register

Objectives

The aim of the work is to collect and integrate data from different administrative and statistical sources which will allow an in-depth analysis of the same data, the regular production of reports on the size and evolution of the sector and comparisons between the cooperative and social enterprise sector and the for-profit sector as well as the integration of new data sources in order to paint a fuller picture of cooperatives and social enterprises in Italy.

Main Results

Currently, the Italian cooperatives database contains the identifying details (from Aida and the regional registers of social cooperatives), financial and economic data (from Aida) and employment figures (from INPS) of over 80,000 Italian cooperatives for the years 2008-2011. The integration of the two database (Aida and INPS) allows, for the first time in Italy, a combined analysis of the employment figures and the financial and economic data. The employment figures include the number of workers employed permanently, temporarily or seasonally over the individual years examined and the number of consultant workers with at least one contribution payment for accredited consultancy work.

In recent years, scientific debate has focused on the issue of measuring data quality, and by now it is widely accepted that a non-systematic evaluation of data quality can lead to a loss of control over statistical processes like gathering, modifying and analysing data. Evaluating data quality is therefore one of the fundamental steps in the integration process.

Euricse is working on identifying, gathering together and integrating administrative and statistical archives containing identifying information, economic and financial data and employment figures for cooperatives at both a national and international level.

Given this, Euricse’s activities are divided into two levels:

Database of social cooperatives in Italy
Database of cooperatives in Europe and worldwide

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