This chapter outlines key statistics for the Irish business economy. Business Demography data was used to analyse the number of enterprises and employment across five sectors: Industry, Construction, Distribution, Services and Financial & Insurance. This data was combined with the Structural Business surveys, which are run annually by CSO.
| Table 14.1 Overview of the Business Economy, 2015 | |||
| Enterprises | Turnover | Persons employed | |
| Industry | 17,176 | €234bn | 221,797 |
| Construction | 50,546 | €15bn | 108,720 |
| Distribution | 46,626 | €148bn | 345,911 |
| Services | 127,485 | €204bn | 691,772 |
| Financial & Insurance | 7,009 | €63bn | 97,836 |
| Total Business Economy | 248,842 | €664bn | 1,466,036 |
| Source: CSO | |||
In 2015, the business economy in Ireland was worth €664bn and employed 1,466,036 persons in 248,842 enterprises.
The Services sector, which includes communications companies and accommodation, had the largest number of enterprises 127,485.
The Construction and Distribution sectors reported 50,546 and 46,626 enterprises respectively. Industry had 17,176 enterprises while the smallest number of enterprises 7,009, was in the Financial & Insurance field.
| For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Number of enterprises |
|---|---|
| Industry | 17176 |
| Construction | 50546 |
| Distribution | 46626 |
| Services | 127485 |
| Financial and Insurance | 7009 |
| X-axis label | Industry | Construction | Distribution | Services | Financial and Insurance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turnover by sector- 2015 | 233.8 | 15.4 | 148.1 | 203.8 | 63.3 |
The Industrial sector generated the most turnover and contributed €234bn to the economy.
The Services sector had a turnover of €204bn; this was followed by the Distribution sector, which includes wholesale and retail businesses, with turnover of €148bn.
The Financial & Insurance sector generated €63bn turnover and the smallest sector in the business economy in Ireland in 2015 was Construction with turnover of €15bn.
| X-axis label | Industry | Construction | Distribution | Services | Financial and Insurance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of persons engaged by sector | 221797 | 108720 | 345911 | 691772 | 97836 |
The Services sector dominated employment figures with 691,772 persons employed.
Distribution enterprises provided employment for 345,911 persons.
The Industrial sector which includes manufacturing had 221,797 persons engaged.
The business sectors with the lowest number of persons employed in 2015 were Construction with 108,720 and the Financial & Insurance sector, which includes banking, with 97,836 persons employed.
| X-axis label | SMEs (<250) | Large (250+) |
|---|---|---|
| Industry | 101232 | 784490 |
| Construction | 54688 | 92867 |
| Distribution | 59075 | 46201 |
| Services | 72558 | 139692 |
| 0 | 0 | |
| All Sectors | 70713 | 291677 |
Gross Value Added (GVA) per person engaged across all sectors averaged €291,677 for Large enterprises and €70,713 for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Large Industrial enterprises reported the highest GVA per person engaged at €784,490 for 2015.
The lowest GVA per person engaged was in Distribution enterprises with 250 or more employees, at €46,201.
| For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | GVA by size class |
|---|---|
| Micro (<10) | 18.7 |
| Small (10-49) | 10 |
| Medium (50-249) | 10.1 |
| Large (250+) | 61.2 |
Large enterprises which employ 250 or more persons generated just over 61% of all GVA.
Small and Medium enterprises combined accounted for just over a further 20% of GVA and the remaining 19% was generated by Micro enterprises that employ less than 10 persons per enterprise.
| Table 14.2 Contribution of the 50 largest enterprises by GVA, 2015 | ||
| Unit | Total Business Economy1 | |
| Business Economy | ||
| Turnover | €m | 601,126 |
| Gross value added | €m | 180,400 |
| Gross operating surplus | €m | 126,372 |
| Persons engaged | No. | 1,368,200 |
| Contribution of Top 50 Enterprises | ||
| Turnover | % | 36.4 |
| Gross value added | % | 54.6 |
| Gross operating surplus | % | 59.5 |
| Persons engaged | % | 6.4 |
| 1Excludes Financial & Insurance activities | ||
| Source: CSO | ||
| X-axis label | Persons Engaged | Turnover |
|---|---|---|
| Industry | 20.5 | 68.6 |
| Construction | 8.1 | 18.9 |
| Distribution | 16.9 | 29.9 |
| Services | 5.9 | 41.3 |
| 0 | 0 | |
| Total Business Economy | 6.4 | 36.4 |
The Top 50 enterprises in Ireland accounted for 36% of all turnover but just over 6% of persons engaged.
| Table 14.3 Breakdown of personnel costs in the total business economy1 by size class, 2015 | ||||
| SMEs(<250) | Large (250+) | Total | ||
| Personnel costs | €m | 36,442 | 17,586 | 54,028 |
| Wages & salaries | €m | 31,834 | 14,888 | 46,722 |
| Social security costs | €m | 4,608 | 2,698 | 7,306 |
| Social security costs as a % of personnel costs | % | 12.6 | 15.3 | 13.5 |
| Wages and salaries per employee | €uro | 36,359 | 41,712 | 38,811 |
| 1The total business economy includes NACE Rev.2 Sections B to N (excluding K) and R92, R93, S95 and S96 | ||||
| Source: CSO | ||||
The business economy in Ireland generated €47bn in wages and salaries and a further €7.3bn in social security contributions.
The average spend on wages & salaries per employee is €36,359 in Small & Medium enterprises.
In Large enterprises, which employ 250 or more persons, typically spend is in excess of €41,700 on wages & salaries per employee.
| Table 14.4 Number of persons engaged in SMEs by sector, 2009 to 2015 | ||||||
| Year | Construction | Services | Distribution | Industry | Financial | Total |
| 2009 | 126,642 | 408,133 | 252,140 | 125,217 | 28,932 | 941,064 |
| 2010 | 99,911 | 397,493 | 242,300 | 115,052 | 29,074 | 883,830 |
| 2011 | 90,793 | 399,816 | 241,205 | 113,755 | 30,359 | 875,928 |
| 2012 | 85,667 | 408,920 | 238,959 | 110,628 | 30,244 | 874,418 |
| 2013 | 86,494 | 419,112 | 239,689 | 109,688 | 30,653 | 885,636 |
| 2014 | 92,289 | 438,666 | 243,303 | 114,642 | 31,084 | 919,984 |
| 2015 | 102,690 | 463,991 | 251,059 | 118,376 | 32,765 | 968,881 |
| Source: CSO | ||||||
| X-axis label | Large (250+) | SMEs (250) |
|---|---|---|
| Active enterprises | 0.2 | 99.8 |
| Persons engaged | 30.9 | 69.1 |
| Turnover | 52.2 | 47.8 |
| GVA | 61.2 | 38.8 |
SMEs accounted for 99.8% of all enterprises and 69% of persons engaged.
They also generated almost 48% of all turnover and 39% of GVA.
The number of persons engaged by SMEs increased by 3% between 2009 and 2015. The largest increases were in the Services sector at 14% and the Financial sector at 13%. The number of persons engaged in the Construction sector decreased by 19% for the same period.
| Persons Engaged | Active enterprises | |
| Mining & quarrying | 4164 | 405 |
| Manufacturing | 200047 | 15242 |
| Electricity, gas etc | 8846 | 515 |
| Water supply etc | 8740 | 1014 |
| Construction | 108720 | 50546 |
| Motor trade | 33468 | 8621 |
| Wholesale trade | 96472 | 13493 |
| Retail trade | 215971 | 24512 |
| Transportation and storage | 94622 | 25066 |
| Accommodation and food | 170222 | 18336 |
| Information and communication | 87597 | 14246 |
| Financial and Insurance | 97836 | 7009 |
| Real estate | 24723 | 13228 |
| Professional, scientific etc | 127591 | 40186 |
| Administrative and support | 123962 | 16423 |
Retail trade accounted for the largest number of persons engaged at 215,971.
Mining and quarrying accounted for the least amount of persons engaged at 4,164.
| Table 14.5 Structural business statistics by sector and nationality of ownership, 2015 | |||||
| Irish-owned | Foreign-owned affiliates | All enterprises | |||
| Owned by EU multinationals | Owned by non-EU multinationals | Total | |||
| Number of enterprises | |||||
| Industry1 | 16,504 | 423 | 249 | 672 | 17,176 |
| Construction | 50,427 | 105 | 14 | 119 | 50,546 |
| Distribution | 45,784 | 571 | 271 | 842 | 46,626 |
| Services (excl. Financials) | 144,048 | 1,057 | 814 | 1,871 | 145,919 |
| All sectors | 256,763 | 2,156 | 1,348 | 3,504 | 260,267 |
| Number of persons engaged | |||||
| Industry1 | 129,197 | 36,064 | 56,536 | 92,600 | 221,797 |
| Construction | 106,469 | 2,074 | 177 | 2,251 | 108,720 |
| Distribution | 261,274 | 53,598 | 31,039 | 84,637 | 345,911 |
| Services (excl. Financials) | 566,884 | 70,862 | 54,026 | 124,888 | 691,772 |
| All sectors | 1,063,824 | 162,598 | 141,778 | 304,376 | 1,368,200 |
| Turnover (€millions) | |||||
| Industry1 | 32,746 | 25,196 | 175,863 | 201,059 | 233,805 |
| Construction | 13,823 | # | # | 1,535 | 15,358 |
| Distribution | 99,557 | 22,203 | 26,375 | 48,578 | 148,135 |
| Services (excl. Financials) | 115,802 | 17,627 | 70,400 | 88,027 | 203,829 |
| All sectors | 261,928 | # | # | 339,199 | 601,127 |
| GVA (€millions) | |||||
| Industry1 | 10,034 | 8,844 | 74,238 | 83,082 | 93,116 |
| Construction | 6,077 | # | # | 99 | 6,176 |
| Distribution | 12,219 | 3,248 | 3,747 | 6,995 | 19,214 |
| Services (excl. Financials) | 37,791 | 5,698 | 18,405 | 24,103 | 61,894 |
| All sectors | 66,121 | # | # | 114,279 | 180,400 |
| 1Industry covers NACE Rev.2 (05-39) of which Manufacturing (10-33), Construction (41-43), Distribution (45-47) and Services covers NACE Rev. 2 H to N (excluding K) and R92, R93, S95, S96. | |||||
| #Indicates confidential data | |||||
| Source: CSO | |||||
Figure 14.9 Irish MNEs abroad and foreign MNEs in Ireland, 2015
Foreign multinationals in Ireland employed just under 304,400 persons and generated €339.2bn in turnover.
Foreign-owned enterprises accounted for 56.4% of total turnover and 63.3% of total GVA in the Irish business economy.
Services which includes Distribution accounted for 79% of employment in Irish-owned affiliates abroad.
The average turnover per person engaged in Irish-owned foreign affiliates was €217.5k.
Turnover per person engaged in Irish-owned foreign affiliates was lowest in Services.
Figure 14.10 Employment in Irish affilates abroad 2015
In 2015, Irish multinationals abroad had turnover in excess of €168 billion, with US and UK affiliates accounting for almost 61% of this. There were nearly 774,000 persons employed in Irish multinationals abroad, 35% of whom were in the US and the UK.
In terms of employment by continent, Europe, Asia and the Americas each accounted for approximately a third of the total, with employment in the remaining regions amounting to 2.3%.
All Outward Foreign Affiliates data can be accessed on the CSO Databank Service.
| Services (ex. Finance) | Distribution | Construction | Manufacturing | |
| United Kingdom | 54.8 | 19.4 | 9.2 | 16.6 |
| France | 45.7 | 20 | 10.5 | 23.8 |
| Spain | 44.4 | 23.2 | 7.9 | 24.5 |
| Italy | 38.5 | 19.8 | 7.8 | 34 |
| Germany | 40 | 18.4 | 6.2 | 35.5 |
| Ireland | 47.2 | 16 | 4.2 | 32.9 |
The Services sector accounted for 47.2% of total GVA in Ireland in 2014.
The United Kingdom recorded the highest percentage of total GVA for the Services sector at 54.8%.
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