Social Economy
The Council of the European Union defined the social economy as a key driver of economic and social development in Europe.[1] Social economy is a diverse field that brings together organisations with different business and organisational models, united by a common purpose of putting people first, creating positive impacts within local communities, and addressing social and environmental challenges. Social economy refers to a specific way of doing business that combines three elements: working towards collective or interest, reinvesting profits and participatory governance. It is increasingly recognised as a driver of inclusive growth, impactful employment and resilient communities.[2] Social economy entities are private entities, independent of public authorities, and may assume various legal forms such as;
Cooperatives,
Mutual societies,
Associations,
Foundations,
Social enterprises
The EU has approximately 2.8 million social economy enterprises, accounting for around 10% of all businesses. These organisations employ nearly 13.6 million people, representing approximately 6.2% of total employment in the EU. In addition to paid employees, the social economy also relies on volunteers, whose contribution is estimated to be equivalent to 5.5 million full-time workers.[3] These figures demonstrate the considerable economic and social significance of the sector and highlight the importance of understanding its workforce, evolving skills requirements, and potential needs for targeted training and skills development.
Beyond its economic contribution, the social economy plays an important role in addressing broader societal challenges and promoting values such as democracy, equality, women’s empowerment, social inclusion and the well-being of disadvantaged groups, as well as environmental sustainability. Given its active contribution to the development and implementation of key EU socio-economic policies, understanding and strengthening the social economy is also critical to building an economy grounded in European values. Its contribution across these areas further underlines the need to strengthen the capacities and skills of the organisations and people working within the sector, particularly in the context of emerging challenges and changing labour-market demands.
Social Economy Action Plan
Given the significant contribution of the social economy to the EU economy and its importance in promoting European values, on 9 December 2021, the European Commission adopted a new Action Plan for the Social Economy. This action plan seeks to enhance social innovation, support thedevelopment of the social economy and boost its social and economic transformative power and it proposes a series of actions for the period 2021-2030.
According to European Commission, despite the progress made under the previous initiatives, needs persist in several areas. Improving the right framework conditions for the social economy across Europe, including improved visibility and recognition and access to finance and markets are key aspects of the action plan. The aim of the action plan as a follows [1]:
Creating the right framework conditions for the social economy to thrive,
Opening up opportunities and support to capacity building,
Enhancing recognition of the social economy and its potential.
In this context, the Action Plan aims to strengthen the social economy across Europe through a range of actions aligned with these priorities, including developing policy and legal frameworks, promoting the social economy at regional, local and international levels, providing business support and capacity building, and improving access to funding.
Taken together, these priorities demonstrate that the development of a strong and resilient social economy depends not only on an enabling policy and regulatory environment, but also on the capacity of social economy organisations to adapt to changing economic, and social conditions. Against this background, understanding current and future skills needs is essential to identify the capacity-building, upskilling and reskilling measures required to support the continued development of the social economy.
Skills Needs & Initiatives in the Social Economy
According to Diesis Network[1], the social economy faces significant green and digital skills gaps, creating an increasing need for reskilling and upskilling while ensuring that workers are not excluded from the twin transition. Social economy organisations also face barriers such as limited resources and digital skills shortages, which can constrain their ability to adapt to technological change.[2] The growing demand for green and digital skills across Europe is equally relevant to the social economy. However, skills development initiatives in the social economy remain relatively limited compared with other sectors, despite the sector’s growing economic and societal importance. This gap may constrain its capacity to fully engage in the green and digital transitions.
Against this backdrop, the European Commission released the Transition Pathway for the Proximity and Social Economy Ecosystem on 14 November 2022. Building on 14 areas for action, the Transition Pathway identifies measures to strengthen the resilience and competitiveness of the social economy ecosystem and support its contribution to the green and digital transitions. In particular, Action Areas 7 and 14 highlight the importance of upskilling and reskilling and recognise the role of social economy entities in providing the knowledge, competences and capacities needed to ensure a fair twin transition:
Addressing capacity and skills gap
Boosting digital skills by- and in the social economy
Addressing these challenges requires greater attention to sector-specific skills development, capacity building, reskilling and upskilling, taking into account the particular characteristics and resource constraints of social economy organisations. It is therefore important to examine not only emerging skills needs, but also the European initiatives already addressing these needs and their contribution to strengthening the sector’s skills base. The following section reviews selected studies, projects and initiatives focusing on skills development in the social economy and related areas.
BASE Project - Blueprint for Advanced Skills & Trainings in the Social Economy is a European initiative involving 25 partners from 10 European countries, aimed at strengthening the capacities and human capital of the social economy by addressing skills mismatches and supporting the upskilling and reskilling of social economy practitioners. Following the Blueprint principles, the project has developed a strategic approach to sectoral cooperation on skills provision for new and updated occupational profiles in the social economy. As part of this approach, baSE has developed a long-term strategy to address gaps between the supply and demand for social economy education and training, as well as the SocioComp competence framework, based on the JRC’s EntreComp, GreenComp and DigComp frameworks.
B-WISE Project - The Blueprint for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills in Work Integration Social Enterprises is an Erasmus+ project that aims to develop a European strategy (Blueprint) to address the skills needs, in particular regarding digital skills, in the Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs) sector. The project targets the skills needs of workers with support needs, their supporters (such as their job coaches, trainers) and their managers.
ESIC Project - The European Social Innovation Campus (ESIC) Blueprint Alliance is a Pact for Skills initiative focused on strengthening the skills and capacities of the social economy workforce and entrepreneurs to respond effectively to the green and digital transitions. Bringing together higher education and vocational education and training providers, social economy organisations and enterprises from across Europe, the Alliance addresses identified skills gaps and mismatches by developing a Core Curriculum for the social economy, alongside tailored curricula for different EQF levels and emerging occupational profiles. It also develops transnational training content and innovative teaching and training methodologies to facilitate the uptake of new skills at regional and local levels.
Brief Recommendations
Existing European initiatives have made progress in supporting skills development in the social economy. However, the limited number and scope of existing initiatives highlight the need for greater cooperation in skills intelligence, knowledge sharing and capacity building. In the future, given the diversity of social economy subsectors, thematic working groups could bring together social economy organisations, VET and higher education providers, policymakers and sectoral networks to identify emerging skills needs, exchange good practices and develop targeted training solutions.
In addition, work-based learning and short-term supported work placements could strengthen links between jobseekers, emerging talent and social economy organisations. Such opportunities could provide practical experience for jobseekers while enabling organisations to identify and attract new skills. Together, these approaches could support workforce development and talent attraction, while helping the sector respond to the evolving demands of the green and digital transitions.
[1] Diesis Network is one of Europe’s largest networks dedicated to promoting and supporting the development of the social economy and social entrepreneurship. It brings together organisations and stakeholders working across Europe to foster social innovation, sustainable development, capacity building and knowledge exchange within the social economy ecosystem.
[1] Georg, G. (2023). Future skills for social economy in Europe. Diesis Network
[1] European Commission. (2021). Building an economy that works for people: An action plan for the social economy. Luxembourg: Publications Ofce of the European Union
[1] Council of the European Union, Council Conclusions, The promotion of the social economy as a key driver of economic and social development in Europe, 2015, http://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15071-2015-INIT/en/pdf
[1] OECD. (2025). Social economy in Europe: Contributing to competitiveness and prosperity. OECD Publishing.
[1] European Commission. (N.d.). Social economy in the EU. European Commission. European Commission: Social economy in the EU, https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/proximity-and-social-economy/social-economy-eu_en
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