Economic and social analysis of sheltered workshops: a study in Galicia

Abstract

The praiseworthy work of the Sheltered Workshops (SW) in the labor integration of people with disabilities together with the important public aids they receive, demands a greater knowledge of their economic and social reality. Bearing in mind that the studies in Galicia on SWs are practically non-existent, and that the economic aids have been significantly reduced during the economic crisis, the objective of our work is, first, to analyze the evolution of their economic situation during the 2010-2015 period, taking into account their differentiation between for-profit and non-profit entities. Second, and given that economic and social objectives coexist in SWs, we complete the previous analysis, incorporating the generated social value. The technique used to evaluate their efficiency is the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA).

As for the results, the SWs are financed mainly with their own funds, with greater intensity in the non-profit entities, and improve their solvency, despite the increase in short-term indebtedness, especially in the for-profit ones. During the last few years, the SWs have seen their autonomy significantly increased with respect to public aids and have maintained their staff stable despite the significant decrease in subsidies. Their returns are moderate, especially in non-profit ones, which allocate a greater amount of their resources to their workers, giving greater priority to social over economic aspects. In general, the level of overall efficiency is high and there are no substantial differences between for-profit and non-profit entities.