Efectos de la crisis económica de 2008 sobre el empleo en las cooperativas andaluzas: Un estudio del impacto provincial mediante el análisis shift-share

Abstract

From the beginning of the 2008 economic crisis, several authors have suggested the need to support territorial growth initiatives by establishing incentives for local businesses. This includes incentives aimed at facilitating funding and business modernization; implementing new technologies; industrial design; improving technological quality, research and development, as well as supporting their internationalization. Within this business network, the contribution of social economy entities to the development of territories must be stressed. On the one hand, because of its capacity to create quality jobs; on the other hand, because of its ability to overcome situations of economic crises, responding more efficiently to the changes taking place in their environments. Thus, social economy entities have developed a rather intense activity in the process of region revitalization. The reasons to account for this fact include those connected to client proximity, their social dimension, through the prioritization of the labor factor over the capital factor, as well as their degree of efficiency in management, as a result of the labor factor's active participation. The ability of social economy entities to revitalize territories, as well as their need to adapt to the singularities of those territories, justify the need to carry out quantitative studies on their territorial impact. This is why this paper's main goal is to analyze employment in social economy entities, by activity sectors at the provincial level in the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia. The references to social economy entities are framed within the definition established by Article 2 of the 5/2011 Law, passed on March 29th. More precisely, they are defined as economic and business entities whose aim is the collective interest of their members, the general economic or social interest, or both at the same time. In addition, Article 5 provides the following classification: cooperatives, mutual benefit societies, foundations, associations, workforce-owned companies, social insertion companies, special employment centers, fishermen's guilds, agricultural processing companies. This classification is not closed, since other entities could be considered as long as they are ruled by the principles of people and the social good having priority over capital, applying results according to the work carried out by its members, solidary promotion at an internal level and towards society, and independence from public authorities. Due to this, the model used is shift-share analysis, which makes it possible to connect the evolution of certain economic variables -in this research, employment in cooperatives- through the evolu- tion of certain characteristics associated with territories -inversion by activity sector-. This analysis is complemented by the empirical application of the constant share and constant shift estimation models, which make it possible to determine predictions, in this case, regarding employment at the provincial level in Andalusia. The obtained results show that the negative impact on employment in cooperatives in the Andalusian autonomous community during the 2008 economic crisis has been smaller than that on businesses under other legal forms. Thereby, from 2008 to 2014, the decrease in employment in cooperatives was seven percentage points lower that the decrease in other types of companies. Breaking down this analysis by province, the obtained results show that that positive behavior has not been homogeneous in the different Andalusian provinces. Thus, the provinces of Almería and Jaén maintain the highest percentage of employees in cooperatives in relation to the total number of employees in businesses, as compared to the other provinces throughout the studied period. Applying the shift-share analyses on the evolution of employment in cooperatives at the provincial level confirms the statistical results obtained at the regional level. The provinces of Cádiz, Córdoba and Granada show negative structural changes and positive differentials. The estimation models also show that the differences among provinces are maintained. These results may help determine the current and future existence of territories and sectors where social economy entities are underrepresented if compared to the average of the autonomous community of Andalusia and, in this case, this may allow to adapt public territorial development policies to the economic and social reality of each province. This analysis must, in any case, be interpreted as a first approach to the study of differences in employment in cooperatives at the provincial level. Once these differences have been confirmed in this research, it is necessary to complete it by means of geographical, economic, social, environmental, demographic, and cultural variables connected to each territory. These variables are able to account for the fact that there are different territorial growth models linked to each of the studied provinces. Launching these regional development policies requires a process of actions agreed by the different public and private agents, such as local authorities, economic agents, unions, associations, universities, etc., together with public authorities beyond the local level. In order to be able to lead this agreed process, a unifying element is called for, to develop a strategy and to promote the actions required from all parties. Maybe the most appropriate agent to take on this role would be the local administration. The ability to revitalize territories will depend on the ability to assimilate the changes occurred in all involved territorial agents. Failing to do so, as well as taking on traditional roles, may cause a loss of opportunities, thus increasing territorial inequalities.