Mercato del lavoro e settore cooperativo in Italia

Labour Market and co-operative sector in Italy - This article describes the important role of the co-operative sector in the Italian labour market. We will present original data concerning the dimension of the co-operative sector, its structure and the trend of the productivity among the co-operative firms. The difference between the trend in the employment and in the productivity of co-operative firms and the correspondent data of the Italian economy, in general, gives a good chance to maintain an institutional approach for the study of the labour market and of the economic organization. In this context we will present a brief review of the literature refereed to labour organization, with some interpretations of the difference of the co-operative organisation. In particular, in order to give an explanation of the better performance of the co-operative firms, we will use non main stream models of the labour market, and we will refer to the institutional and legal diversity of the co-operatives, to the motivational factors and to the social capital endowment of the co-operative sector. Keywords: labour market, co-operative firms, organisation, productivity, co-operative difference, institutions. Parole chiave: mercato del lavoro, imprese cooperative, organizzazione, differenza cooperativa, istituzioni.