Business in Ireland 2009
This report is a new initiative by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) to provide a consolidated annual overview of business in Ireland. The report provides a summary of the Structural Business Statistics currently produced by the CSO.
The aim of this report is to describe the structure and performance of the main business sectors in the economy, namely; Industry, Construction, Distribution, Services and the Financial sector.
Financial sector statistics are being presented for the first time. These cover the Banking and Insurance sectors and provide valuable information on the income and expenditure of these businesses.
Main Findings
- In 2009, there were over 199,000 active enterprises in the business economy with over 1.3 million persons engaged. The Services sector was the largest sector accounting for 45.6% of enterprises and 40.5% of persons engaged.
- Total turnover was €359.4 billion and total production value was €231.5 billion. Industry was the largest contributor accounting for 30.5% of turnover and 44.3% of production value.
- Gross value added was €95.2 billion with Industry and Services contributing 33.9% and 32.4% respectively.
- Gross value added per person engaged averaged almost €70,000 across all sectors in the business economy. The highest figure was recorded in Industry, with almost €165,000.
- Gross operating surplus was €49.6 billion while €45.6 billion was paid in personnel costs.
- Gross operating surplus as a proportion of turnover was 13.8% in the business economy. Industry was the most profitable sector with a gross operating surplus of 20.2% of turnover.
- The 50 best-performing enterprises in the business economy, measured by gross value added, accounted for 30.2% of total turnover, 37.2% of total gross value added and 59.4% of total gross operating surplus.
- The proportion of small enterprises in the business economy was 98.5% in 2009.
- Small enterprises accounted for 50.4% of total persons engaged, 30.4% of turnover and 30.5% of gross value added.
- It was estimated that 2.1% of enterprises in the business economy were foreign-owned in 2009. These foreign-owned enterprises accounted for 21.6% of total persons engaged and 50.2% of total gross value added.
- In the Financial sector, gross value added for Banks and Insurance companies was €7.3 billion and €3.6 billion respectively.
International Comparisons
- Average gross value added per person engaged in Manufacturing for the EU27 was €50,700 in 2008 while the figure recorded in Ireland was €155,900.
- Ireland was the most profitable country in the EU for Manufacturing with a gross operating surplus of 20.0% of turnover in 2008. The EU average was 8.3%.
Data Sources
Irish data presented in this report are available on StatBank, the main data dissemination service on the CSO website. The data presented in this report are only a small fraction of the Structural Business Statistics available online.
For further information contact:
Barra Casey (021) 453 5770 or Phone: LoCall 1890 313 414
Mary Duggan (021) 453 5584 (021) 453 5000 or (01) 498 4000
Results, Analysis and Publications Section Fax: (021) 453 5553
Structural Business Statistics Internet: www.cso.ie
Central Statistics Office E-mail: Industry_RAP@cso.ie
Central Statistics Office 05 January 2012
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