Sweden: paid workforce

The 2007 Report The Social Economy in the European Union edited by the European Economic and Social Committee highlights that, in Sweden, approximately the 4,8% of the total paid employment works in the non-profit sector. Figures for cooperatives, mutual societies and associations are the following:

– co-operatives: 99,500 employees;

– mutual societies: 11,000 employees;

– associations and foundations: 95,197 employees,

for a total of 205,697 paid employees (source: The Social Economy in the European Union Report, 2007).

According to the Report Global Civil Society – An Overview (Salamon et al., 2003; 1995 data), there is a total of 342,900 FTE people engaged in the civil society sector (paid and volunteer staff).

Also, the Global Civil Society – An Overview Report (Salamon et al., 2003; 1995 data) highlights that “Culture” is the field that hires the highest percentage of paid workforce in the Swedish third sector, with 26.9% of the whole civil society FTE paid employment; it is followed by the education field, with a percentage of 20.8%. Foundations, environment and health sectors are among the less important in the Swedish scenario, as they respectively employ 0.6%, 2.0% and 3.3% of the whole third sector FTE paid employees.