The ISTAT census of non profit organisations says that in 1999, about 4 million people work in the Italian third sector, of which 17.5%, about 700.000, are paid staff. The percentage of non profit organisations that use paid human resources is consistently low: only 15.2% of the whole non profit organisations declared to use it, while only 8% employ it as the only type of human resources available. The average number of employees per organisation is of 2 people and social cooperatives are the non profit institutions that use paid staff most often.
As far as geographical distribution is concerned, 52% of people work in the Northern based organisations, 30% work in the Centre of Italy and only 19% in the South.
To find out more details about the paid workforce in other type of non profit organisations such as social cooperatives, foundations and voluntary organisations click here