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Business Demography 2010

 

Headline figures:

  • There were over 195,000 enterprises active in the private business economy1 in Ireland in 2010, with nearly 1.24 million persons engaged2. This represented a decrease of 5.4% in enterprises and 5.5% in persons engaged from the previous year.
  • Small and medium enterprises accounted for 99.8% of the total enterprise population and 69.1% of persons engaged.
  • During 2010, over 11,000 enterprise births were created with an average of 0.9 persons engaged per enterprise. Sector D “Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply” was the sector with the highest enterprise birth rate of 12.3% (38 enterprises). The sector with the second highest birth rate was Sector J “Information and communication” with a 9.2% birth rate (928 enterprises)
  • More than 24,000 businesses ceased during 20093, resulting in a loss of nearly 35,000 jobs. The sector where deaths had the largest effect on employment was Sector F “Construction” with 17.1% of enterprises in this sector ceasing during the year, and a loss of 7.7% of jobs in the sector. This was followed by Sector L “Real Estate Activities”, with 11.6% of enterprises closing, and a loss of 6.9% of jobs.
  • Over a quarter of all enterprises active during 2010 started trading in the period 2006 - 2010. These new enterprises accounted for 5.3% of persons engaged in the business economy in 2010. 

Press Statement Business Demography 2010 graph      

 

Background

 

Business Demography statistics provide a detailed breakdown of the numbers of active enterprises, newly birthed and ceased enterprises, broken down by economic activity and employment class or legal form. Related employment data is also supplied. A breakdown of active enterprises and related employment on a county basis is also provided.

This press release covers the reference year 2010, however data on enterprise deaths relates to 20093. Statistics are also provided on enterprise births since 2006 that were still active during 2010. All enterprise births will be followed for 5 years to assess their survival rate and the resulting effect on employment.

 

Detailed data tables are available on CSO’s data dissemination service: Click here

The Background Notes at the link below provide more details on the release: Click here

For further information on the NACE Rev. 2 classification of economic activity: Click here

 

Footnotes:

1 The private business economy covers the NACE Rev 2 sectors B - N (excluding 64.20 Activities of holding companies).

The full list of Rev 2 sectors covered is:

B – Mining and Quarrying

C – Manufacturing

D – Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply

E – Water Supply; Sewerage, Waste management and Remediation Activities

F – Construction

G – Wholesale and Retail Trade; Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles

H – Transportation and Storage

I – Accommodation and Food Service Activities

J – Information and Communication

K – Financial and Insurance Activities (excludes NACE code 64.20

Activities of holding companies )

L – Real Estate Activities

M – Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities

N – Administrative and Support Service Activities

P – Education

 

2 Persons engaged includes employees, working proprietors and family members.

 

3 Population, births and survival data in this release relates to 2010, but the latest deaths data available is for 2009. See the

Background Notes for more information at

http://www.cso.ie/en/surveysandmethodology/multi-sectoral/businessdemography/backgroundnotes/

 

4 The composition of sectors used in the graph is as follows:

Services  Sectors H, I, J, L, M, N
Distribution  Sector G
Industry   Sectors B, C, D, E
Construction  Sector F
Financial Service Activities  Sector K excluding 64.20 Activities of holding companies

 

 

For further information contact:

Jillian Delaney 021 453 5258 or

AnneMaria Hogan 021 453 5244 or

Donal King 021 453 5245

 

The business specialists above can be contacted by e-mail using their firstname.lastname@cso.ie or through the Business Register e-mail busreg@cso.ie

 

Central Statistics Office                                                                     22 June 2012

                                                           – ENDS –