Encouraging work in co-operatives could be a key measure for reducing youth unemployment in Spain, suggests the Union of Co-operative Workers in the Murcia region (Ucomur).

Ucomur president Juan Antonio Pedreño tells news agency EFE that in Murcia in Q2, co-operative firms created 800 new jobs, by far the highest figure anywhere in the country, ahead of 350 in Andalusia.

In the last 18 months, the number of co-op jobs in Murcia has totalled 2,800 and Pedreño has asked the head of regional government Ramón Luis Valcárcel to facilitate the incorporation of young people into the labour market through such companies.

The staff force of co-operatives is already relatively young, EFE notes, with 80% of workers aged under 40.

The United Nations’ General Assembly made 2012 the International Year of Co-operatives, with a July event in the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela a centrepiece for the UN’s activities.