The pandemic did not discourage the development of co-operative societies in France.
According to new stats published by Les Scop, the country’s federation of worker co-ops, the movement witnessed a 6% increase in its workforce in 2020.
Co-ops currently provide 67,200 jobs, 1,400 of which were created by the 203 new co-ops registered in 2020. A total of 123 co-ops were start-ups and they account for 61% of the jobs created.
Around 18% of the co-ops set up in 2020 were established through business transfers, and they accounted for 44% of the jobs created by co-ops.
Conversions of associations represented 16% of co-op creations and 17% of jobs generated while the employee takeovers of companies in difficulty led to the creation of 11 co-operatives (or 5% of the total), but 16% of the workforce generated by the creations of the year.
The movement currently includes 3,611 worker or producer co-operatives (known as Scios) and multi-stakeholder co-operatives (known as Scics). These types of co-ops are predominant in sectors such services, construction and industry.
