The Social Economy Statistical Website of Castilla-La Mancha (CLMESTAT)developed by a multidisciplinary group of professors specializing in Social Economy, was presented on May 10 in Toledo at an event held at the Teatrillo de San Pedro Mártir of the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM). CLMESTAT was created as part of the Social Economy Strategy of Castilla-La Mancha, which was approved last September by the Social Economy Council of this Autonomous Community and includes among its pillars the enhancement and visibility of the Social Economy.
The event featured the participation of the Director General of CIRIEC-Spain and President of the CIRIECSTAT Statistical Website, José Luis Monzón; the President of the Social Economy of Castilla-La Mancha, Juan Miguel Del Real; and the Director General of Labour, Self-Employment, and Social Economy of the Government of Castilla-La Mancha, Ana Carmona, along with UCLM professor and director of CLMESTAT, Felipe Hernández Perlines.
As explained by Professor Hernández Perlines, the website is in collaboration with CIRIEC-Spain and is the third official statistical web space presented at the national level, preceded by the Statistical Website of the Social Economy (CIRIECSTAT), at the state level, and the Statistical Website of the Social Economy of the Valencian Community (VALESTAT).
CLMESTAT aims to provide a better understanding of the Social Economy at the regional level and will become a source of data "prepared with rigorous methodological criteria" and, in turn, "a repository and a database that allows comparison between different Social Economy statistics from Spain and other regions."
As a novelty, the Website, in addition to offering data on entities and employment in the social economy of Castilla-La Mancha, will include an additional section on the monetization of the social value of the social economy, in which all that social economy companies and organizations contribute to their local and regional community will be translated into monetary value (euros), beyond their own economic and financial results.
Faculty and Researchers of the University of Castilla-La Mancha
For his part, the director of CIRIEC-Spain and chairman of CIRIECSTAT, José Luis Monzón, congratulated the team that created CLMESTAT composed of professors from UCLM such as Virginia Barba, Inmaculada Carrasco, José Antonio Prieto, José Mª Herranz, Miguel Ángel Alarcón, Mª José Calderón, Beatriz Calderón, Francisco Escribano, Sebastián Castillo, Inmaculada Buendía, Ángel Meseguer, and Marcos Carchano.
He also welcomed the interest that the social economy statistical websites are generating in other autonomous communities, such as Galicia, Aragón, La Rioja, and the Canary Islands, where they are studying the implementation of similar websites, all following the same methodology of CIRIECSTAT, from CIRIEC-Spain.
According to Monzón, the importance of these statistical projects lies in the fact that they are helping Spain be seen as an "international reference" in a topic, such as statistics, that is very current in the international institutions supporting the social economy.
Beginning to be visible
The president of the Social Economy association of Castilla-La Mancha, Juan Miguel del Real, appreciated the "boost" given to the sector by the regional administration and UCLM, also through this Statistical Website.
The Confederation of Social Economy Business Associations of Castilla-La Mancha (economiasocial.clm) was established in 2020 to represent and defend the companies and federations that make up the plurality of social economy entities in this region, and which are a key driver for its socio-economic development.economíasocial.clm) se constituyó en 2020 para representar y defender a las empresas y federaciones que conforman la pluralidad de entidades de la economía social de esta región, y que son motor y pieza clave para el desarrollo socio-económico de la misma.
The event was concluded by the Director General of Self-Employment, Labour, and Social Economy of Castilla-La Mancha, Ana Carmona, who emphasized that this statistical website aims to address the "data deficit" that exists in the sector, "through the rigorous analysis needed when implementing policies that continue to promote the social economy in the region." Carmona also expressed her congratulations to UCLM and the social economy sector of Castilla-La Mancha for collaborating on this project to visualize and value the social economy.