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The performance of business in Ireland in 2020 was examined using a number of performance indicators. The Structural Business Surveys1 were used to compile the data.
Labour productivity, personnel costs as a percentage of gross value added (GVA) and enterprise profitability were analysed. The contribution of the 50 largest enterprises, both in terms of GVA and employment were also examined.
GVA represents the value of the goods and services produced, in this case, in the Irish business economy. A simple measure of productivity is to analyse GVA by the number of persons engaged. The relatively large multinational sector in Ireland and the consequent assignment of value added to the Irish economy, can make the interpretation of indicators like GVA per person engaged more difficult.
Care should be taken when looking at the results for micro-sized enterprises. This size class covers enterprises with less than 10 persons engaged. This also includes enterprises that officially have no persons engaged assigned to them, but in some cases have significant economic value. In Figure 4.3, we can see that personnel costs relative to GVA are lower for micro enterprises than for other SMEs.
1The surveys used were Census of Industrial Production (CIP), Building and Construction Inquiry (BCI) and Annual Services Inquiry (ASI). Financial and Insurance activities were excluded from this analysis.
GVA at factor cost is the gross income from operating activities after adjusting for operating subsidies and indirect taxes. See Appendix 2.
X-axis label | Irish-owned | All enterprises |
---|---|---|
Micro (<10 persons engaged) | 64652 | 98848 |
Small (10-49 persons engaged) | 49573 | 65620 |
Medium (50-249 persons engaged) | 65670 | 93987 |
Large (250+ persons engaged) | 89592 | 357529 |
All size classes | 65044 | 172501 |
X-axis label | SMEs (<250 persons engaged) | Large (250+ persons engaged) |
---|---|---|
All sectors | 87088 | 357529 |
Industry | 121691 | 853462 |
Construction | 46803 | 97157 |
Distribution | 70347 | 77869 |
Services | 97225 | 234310 |
X-axis label | Irish-owned | All enterprises |
---|---|---|
Micro (<10 persons engaged) | 29.2 | 20.4 |
Small (10-49 persons engaged) | 67.7 | 56 |
Medium (50-249 persons engaged) | 55.2 | 47.5 |
Large (250+ persons engaged) | 48.9 | 13.8 |
All size classes | 46.3 | 21.7 |
X-axis label | SMEs (<250 persons engaged) | Large (250+ persons engaged) |
---|---|---|
All sectors | 36.9 | 13.8 |
Industry | 48.3 | 6.9 |
Construction | 51.1 | 66.1 |
Distribution | 41.1 | 40.2 |
Services | 30.5 | 22 |
GOS is the surplus generated by operating activities after the labour factor input has been recompensed. See Appendix 2.
X-axis label | Irish-owned | All enterprises |
---|---|---|
Micro (<10 persons engaged) | 24.1 | 26.6 |
Small (10-49 persons engaged) | 7.9 | 9.6 |
Medium (50-249 persons engaged) | 13.4 | 14.1 |
Large (250+ persons engaged) | 19.8 | 32.8 |
All size classes | 17 | 26.4 |
X-axis label | SMEs (<250 persons engaged) | Large (250+ persons engaged) |
---|---|---|
All sectors> | 17.6 | 32.8 |
Industry | 15.4 | 42.6 |
Construction | 13.6 | 9 |
Distribution | 7.7 | 11.9 |
Services | 30.1 | 25.3 |
X-axis label | Top 50 by Gross value added | Top 50 by employment |
---|---|---|
Gross operating surplus | 73.2 | 34.2 |
Gross value added | 59.7 | 30 |
Turnover | 46.4 | 32.5 |
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