The spatial determinants of employment growth in the cooperative sector: An analysis of Italian provinces

Abstract

This paper analyses the temporal dynamics and spatial patterns of employment in Italian cooperative sector. Through a spatial Shift-Share analysis adopting NUTS 3 data, we try to highlight the main determinants of the growth of cooperative employment in the period 2012-2018. The evidence suggests a series of critical elements of discussion and numerous insights; we limit ourselves here to noting some particularly relevant ones: the cooperative model widespread in the country and its employment growth suffers from a sectoral mix influencing in an anticyclical way in part of the Centre and the South and in a pro-cyclical way in most of the Centre-North.