Social Economy in Europe

In economics, "the private sector" and "the public sector" are the familiar terms used respectively to describe privately owned, profit-driven enterprises and government-controlled ventures. The designation "social economy" has been given to a third sector of the economy that represents cooperative concerns like community associations, volunteer organizations and businesses whose objectives are primarily social. Market activities associated with the social economy resemble market activities in the private and public sectors: people are employed, goods and services are often sold, money is occasionally made – with one critical difference: monetary surpluses are typically reinvested in the business or community rather than skimmed off the top as profit.

Variations on the concept of the social economy have been in currency throughout Europe for at least 150 years, and in 1989 the European Union (EU) established a "Social Economy Unit" to explore the relevance of the concept in contemporary Europe. Many of the EU's member nations have implemented the concepts behind the third sector to a greater or lesser extent, each in its characteristic way.

France:
The social economy (économie sociale ) is a major economic sector in France, representing 12% of the gross national product and employing 12% of the workforce.
An example of the social economy at work in France is illustrated by the history of Entreprise Nouvelle Vers l'Insertion Economique (ENVIE) Strasbourg, which began in 1984 as a partnership between the homeless charity Emmaus, social workers and the appliance distributor DARTY. Initially ENVIE provided repair and maintenance training to the unemployed and sold second-hand goods with a one-year warranty; the city of Strasbourg provided support by redistributing temporary employment funds to pay workers and allowing municipal social workers to administer the project. In 1995, ENVIE branched out into the collection of hazardous household materials and municipal wastes, and today there are 30 similar municipal operations in the ENVIE network, employing 750 people. Nine more operations are in their planning stages.

Spain:
Spain's "economía social" is responsible for 14% of the gross national product, and employs 18% of the workforce. Confederación Empresarial Española de la Economía Social (CEPES) is an association of social economy enterprises that includes worker-owned companies. In February, 2010, President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced that the government plans to present a Social Economy Act to the Council of Ministers, which he sees as a significant measure to combat Spain's massive unemployment (which stands at 18%.)

Italy:
Service-based organizations called social cooperatives have been an important factor in Italy's economic life since the 1970s. Today they number over 7,000, with 223,000 paid employees, 31,000 volunteers and a combined gross revenue of over five billion Euros.

United Kingdom:
In the United Kingdom (UK), the Office of the Third Sector, created in 2006, is a Cabinet level post that facilitates government support of social economy enterprises. Many of the UK's most proactive social economy endeavors, however, have been funded through government grants. It remains unclear what their future will be in the face of a new government and continuing economic turmoil.