Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Extra information
Methodology Previous Releases
International comparison:
Eurostat Business Demography
See also:
YouTube Video
For more information on this release:
E-mail: busreg@cso.ie Patrick Kelleher (+353) 21 453 5048 Barry Sobey (+353) 21 453 5355 Liam O'Flaherty (+353) 21 453 5245
For general information on CSO statistics:
information@cso.ie (+353) 21 453 5000 On-line ISSN 2009-6402
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Business Demography

2014

 2008200920102011201220132014% Change 2008-2014% Change 2013-2014
          
Number of enterprises244,195244,428242,692240,880244,394243,571238,249-2.4%-2.2%  
Persons engaged1,511,9201,345,4611,270,4751,259,3261,264,7691,288,0171,334,291-11.8%3.6%  
Enterprise births15,44417,84513,95514,34315,07913,82516,2565.4%17.6%  
Enterprise deaths19,15719,24217,02215,17716,19920,080*   
*Enterprise deaths data for 2013 is preliminary as 2 years of inactivity are necessary to be declared a final death.

Number of enterprises remain relatively stable while persons engaged down over 11% between 2008 - 2014

Figure 1 Index of Active Enterprises
go to full release

This release provides data on the “Business Demography” of Ireland for the period 2008 - 2014. Revised figures for 2008 - 2012 are included in this release, along with newly published figures for 2013 and 2014. The detailed tables provided with this release present a breakdown of the numbers of active enterprises and newly birthed and ceased enterprises, classified by economic activity, employment size and legal form. Related employment numbers are also outlined. A detailed county level breakdown is also provided in relation to active enterprises and employment numbers only.

The Business Demography series 2008 - 2012 has been revised due to active enterprise definition changes1. The historic definition (used in the old series) of an active enterprise outlined that an enterprise was active if it either paid VAT, had employees, filed a Corporation Tax return or filed an Income Tax return for the reference year. This definition also allowed for national methods to apply when determining enterprise activity (if an enterprise was only active by virtue of activity on the Income Tax file, it would only be considered active if its turnover was greater than €50,000 in the year). 

Over time, the application of historic rules and definitions has led to some enterprises being counted as active when they were not (over coverage on the Business Register) and some enterprises not being counted when they should have been (under coverage on the Business Register).

A new definition of what constitutes an active enterprise has recently been agreed at EU level and will likely achieve full legislative effect (via what is known as the FRIBS legislative package2) within a few years. This definition is a much clearer outline of what constitutes an active enterprise. An enterprise is considered to be active if:

"in a certain period it generates turnover, employs staff or makes investments in the period".

Introducing the new definition of what constitutes an active enterprise will result in an increased measure of the population of active enterprises in Ireland. 

Main differences resulting from the new series

As a result of the implementation of the new enterprise definition, the number of enterprises in the private business economy3 in 2012 has increased from 185,530 in the old series to 244,394 in the new series, an increase of nearly 59,000 enterprises (latest figures available for the old series is 2012) . Almost 32,000 (or 54.2%) of the increase in enterprise numbers is directly attributable to Sector H "Transportation and Storage" (increase of 16,347 enterprises) and Sector F "Construction" (increase of 15,561 enterprises). 

Under the new series, the impact of the definition changes has resulted in the number of active enterprises remaining relatively stable (-2.4%) while the number of persons engaged has decreased (-11.8%) over the course of the 2008 - 2014 reference period. Under the old series the number of active enterprises decreased by 14.2% in the 2008 - 2012 period (as opposed to a slight increase of 0.14% in the new series for the same period). In particular, the introduction of the new series is now reporting a much larger enterprise population in Sector F "Construction" which has increased significantly from the old series. The definition changes has resulted in a larger proportion of small enterprises now being captured, however these enterprises are not large employers and have not had as significant an impact on the number of persons engaged series. For example, for 2012, we can see that Sector F "Construction" has increased its number of persons engaged by 16.6% from the old series while the number of active enterprises has increased by over 46%. 

Similar results can be seen for Sector H "Transportation and Storage" where the number of active enterprises has increased by over 160% (mainly attributable to Sector H49 "Land Transport") but the number of persons engaged has increased by just 20.9%. While the total number of active enterprises has remained relatively stable for the series 2008 - 2014, the number of persons engaged has decreased by 11.8% , see figures 2 & 3.


Demography birth and death figures amended December 2016 to reflect a slight re-classifcation, updated figures now included in this release. 

X-axis label2012 Old Series2012 New Series
Total Enterprises185530244394
Construction (F)3387949530
Transportation and storage (H)993726284

 

 

X-axis label2012 Old Series2012 New Series
Total Enterprises12198541264769
Construction (F)7660289351
Transportation and storage (H)7594491852

Annual changes and sectoral composition

There were over 238,000 active enterprises in the private business economy in Ireland in 2014, with over 1.3 million persons engaged4. This compares to over 244,000 active enterprises and over 1.5 million persons engaged in 2008. The Services sector5 accounted for over half (51.3%) of all enterprises in 2014, with the Construction sector accounting for less than a fifth (19.9%). In 2008 the Services sector accounted for less than half (46.7%) while Construction accounted for over a quarter (25.3%) of all enterprises. See figures 4 & 5 and summary table.

For long labels below use
to display on multiple lines
Percentage of Enterprises by Sector 2014
Services51.3
Distribution19.1
Industry6.9
Construction19.9
Financial Service Activities2.8

Looking at where persons engaged work in the Irish private business economy, we see a similar pattern emerging in the Services and Construction sectors. In 2014 the Services sector accounted for 44.3% of all persons engaged while in 2008 it accounted for 40%. Construction accounted for 7.5% of all persons engaged in 2014, down from 12.6% in 2008. See figures 6 & 7.

For long labels below use
to display on multiple lines
Percentage of Enterprises by Sector 2008
Services46.7
Distribution18.9
Industry6.6
Construction25.3
Financial Service Activities2.4
For long labels below use
to display on multiple lines
Percentage of Persons Engaged by Sector 2012
Services44.3
Distribution25.2
Industry15.8
Construction7.5
Financial Service Activities7.2

Size class composition of the business economy

Small and medium sized enterprises6 accounted for 99.8% of the total enterprise population for 2014. They also accounted for nearly 69% of total persons engaged, with large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons) employing over 31% of persons engaged, despite accounting for only a small fraction (0.2%) of total enterprise numbers. See figure 8. In 2008, small and medium sized enterprises also accounted for 99.8% of the total enterprise population while accounting for a higher percentage (71%) of total persons engaged than in 2014. Large enterprises in 2008 accounted for 0.2% of all enterprises while employing around 29% of persons engaged. See figure 9

For long labels below use
to display on multiple lines
Percentage of Persons Engaged by Sector 2008
Services40
Distribution24.8
Industry16
Construction12.6
Financial Service Activities6.6
EnterprisesPersons Engaged
Under 1092.2927.98
10-496.3921.86
50-2491.1119.11
250 and over0.2231.05

 

 

EnterprisesPersons Engaged
Under 1090.9228.09
10-497.6323.66
50-2491.2419.32
250 and over0.2228.93

Enterprise births and deaths

This Business Demography release relates to reference year 2014, however data on enterprise deaths7 are available up to reference year 2013 only due to the fact that two complete sets of yearly data is required for an enterprise to be declared a final enterprise death. All enterprise births8 were followed for 5 years (2009 to 2014) to assess their survival rate and the resulting effect on employment.

Over 29% of all enterprises that were active during 2014 began trading in the period 2009 – 2014 inclusive. The one year survival rate (relating to enterprises born in one year and still active in next year) decreased slightly from 2009 to 2014 from 86% in 2009 to 84.7% in 2014, and shows almost 85% of enterprises created in 2013 were still active in 2014. Of the 17,845 enterprises birthed in 2009, 10,958 or 61.4% survived to reference year 2014. See figure 10.

 

X-axis labelSurvived 1 yrSurvived 2 yrsSurvived 3 yrsSurvived 4 yrsSurvived 5 yrs
Year of Birth 200813286
Year of Birth 20091510012113
Year of Birth 2010121811377711132
Year of Birth 201112970116781292210521
Year of Birth 2012132561194310775120709994
Year of Birth 2013117081169210720974210958

There were 16,256 new enterprise births in 2014, an increase of nearly 18% on 2013. There were 19,382 persons engaged in these newly birthed enterprises. There were less enterprise births in 2008 (15,444) but a slightly higher number of persons engaged (22,872) in these newly birthed enterprises. 

The number of births in Sector F “Construction” increased from 2,473 in 2013 to 3,526 in 2014 and is just below the highest number of births recorded in the reference period for Construction which occurred in 2009 (3,573).

A large decrease (30.8%) in the number of births was recorded in Sector B “Mining and Quarrying” between 2013 and 2014, a sector with relatively low enterprise numbers (411 active enterprises in 2014 including 18 new enterprise births). Sector K “Financial and insurance activities excluding activities of holding companies (K-642)" experienced the highest decrease (34.6%), between these two years. In 2014, Sector K had 418 enterprise births, compared to 639 in 2013. See figure 11.

 

IndustryServicesConstructionDistributionFinancial
2008732837934432453437
2009970964635732758898
2010778771024672552448
2011895779125892683385
2012925817427572704519
2013968744124732304639
20141110873435262468418

Over 20,000 enterprises ceased during 20139, resulting in a loss of over 23,000 persons engaged. This represents 23.9% more enterprise deaths than 2012. 2013 enterprise death figures are preliminary as an enterprise needs two full years of inactivity before being declared a final death.  The number of enterprise deaths increased across all sectors in 2013. In 2013, Sector F "Construction" has the highest number of enterprise deaths with 4,418 enterprises ceasing activity or 22% of total deaths. Sector G "Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles" also took up a large proportion of overall deaths in 2013, with 3,449 enterprise deaths or 17.2% of overall deaths. 

The sector with the largest percentage increase in the number of enterprises deaths was Sector K “Financial and insurance activities excluding activities of holding companies” with an increase of over 77.2%. This was followed by Sector N “Administrative and support service activities” and Sector D "Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply" who also experienced large percentage increases albeit some of these sectors have low enterprise population numbers. Although the number of overall deaths has increased in the 2008 - 2013 period, the number of deaths in Sector F"Construction" has dropped by 41.2% in the same period. See figure 12.

IndustryServicesConstructionDistributionFinancial
2008928756575182848298
20091058854761463039452
2010963806646972857439
2011874736337862771383
2012957814435842952562
201311601005744183449996

During 2013, in terms of employment, Sector G “Wholesale and Retail Trade, Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motor Cycles” had the most persons engaged in ceased enterprises, with a loss of 4,629 persons engaged. The second highest was Sector F “Construction” with a loss of just over 4,110 persons engaged. As can be seen from figure 13, the number of persons engaged from enterprise births increased in 2014, while the number of persons engaged in ceased enterprises increased in 2013 relative to the two previous years. The number of persons engaged in enterprise births (2014) and enterprise deaths (2013) are both below the levels experienced in 2008. 

BirthsDeaths
20082287234711
20091808928406
20101696123689
20111679420750
20121860520467
20131650523127
201419382

International comparison

In EU terms10 (latest data available is for 2013), Ireland’s largest sector of active enterprises, the Services sector, at 51% is higher than the EU average (46.5%) but lower than Germany (52%), and the UK (57%) as well as six other Member States. The Services sector is also the UK's largest sector of active enterprises. In 2013, Ireland had the largest percentage share of active enterprises in the EU for Sector F “Construction” at 20% along with Slovakia. This compares to 15% for the EU average, the UK at 15% and Germany at 13%. Bulgaria had the smallest percentage at nearly 6%, followed  by Latvia and Romania at 9%. See figure 14.

Industry (%)Services (%)Construction (%)Distribution (%)Financial (%)
Belgium75016252
Bulgaria10396431
Czech Republic183816235
Denmark95414203
Germany115213222
Estonia115113251
Ireland75120193
Spain74616293
France94618262
Croatia154513261
Italy114214302
Cyprus113616334
Latvia11519282
Lithuania123515372
Luxembourg35611255
Hungary104910264
Malta94214342
Netherlands65415233
Austria95510243
Poland133615333
Portugal95010292
Romania11399402
Slovenia154815202
Slovakia163520281
Finland115017202
Sweden85614192
United Kingdom75715192
Norway75519181
Table 1: Active Enterprises (Number) by Activity and Year
Number of Enterprises
 
  2008200920102011201220132014
 
Mining and quarrying (B)..434408412411421411
Manufacturing (C)14,51314,62914,31114,33614,53314,64914,628
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (D)..330403423456485483
Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (E)844892928961985985975
Construction (F)61,90557,47252,60750,25649,53048,50247,349
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)46,23446,49446,82047,03047,55447,06145,618
Transportation and storage (H)27,74327,27127,19626,37026,28425,73424,595
Accommodation and food service activities (I)17,46617,46717,55217,69317,89217,91317,790
Information and communication (J)10,63211,26411,86912,35013,09913,57813,687
Financial and insurance activities excluding activities of holding companies (K-642)5,8366,6997,0416,9867,3107,5026,593
Real estate activities (L)9,76610,54111,36111,38711,98612,06511,912
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)34,25936,05137,19437,68538,80538,91138,795
Administrative and support service activities (N)14,39914,88315,00114,99015,54815,76415,412
Business economy excluding activities of holding companies (B to N,-642)244,195244,428242,692240,880244,394243,571238,249
Education (P)10,26810,16811,13711,55312,25212,54212,986
Arts, Entertainment & Recreation (R)8,6799,7229,5129,77710,28710,42810,538
NACE code 64.20 Activities of holding companies is excluded from sector K.
.. indicates that the data has been suppressed to protect the confidentiality of individual enterprises.
Table 2: Persons Engaged (Number) by Activity and Year
Number of Persons Engaged
 
  2008200920102011201220132014
 
Mining and quarrying (B)5,1346,1764,3844,2694,1804,1464,058
Manufacturing (C)218,792194,172181,611181,050178,700181,091189,966
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (D)9,2359,9229,1178,8428,7358,2468,496
Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (E)7,7858,0097,1897,5347,5787,5088,025
Construction (F)190,069134,313104,54594,64089,35191,12299,860
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)374,598345,721329,380328,147327,687332,768336,866
Transportation and storage (H)104,73097,34194,35892,58291,85291,64491,985
Accommodation and food service activities (I)163,673154,069148,189146,374150,735155,105161,097
Information and communication (J)73,29766,81167,68369,29072,68477,06082,010
Financial and insurance activities excluding activities of holding companies (K-642)100,48794,27396,50396,54597,67396,37196,460
Real estate activities (L)21,61317,31218,42319,09520,11120,84822,775
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)125,971113,458108,168108,630110,924115,426120,245
Administrative and support service activities (N)116,536103,884100,925102,328104,559106,682112,448
Business economy excluding activities of holding companies (B to N,-642)1,511,9201,345,4611,270,4751,259,3261,264,7691,288,0171,334,291
Education (P)145,451121,622145,700147,369147,643149,390151,939
Arts, Entertainment & Recreation (R)36,78537,19635,50935,58836,25936,85737,442
NACE code 64.20 Activities of holding companies is excluded from sector K.
.. indicates that the data has been suppressed to protect the confidentiality of individual enterprises.
Table 3: Persons Engaged (Number) by Size Class and Year
  Number of Persons Engaged
 
  2008200920102011201220132014
Business economy excluding activities of holding companies (B to N,-642)
All persons engaged size classes1,511,9201,345,4611,270,4751,259,3261,264,7691,288,0171,334,291
Under 10425,018387,521372,075370,497371,116370,112373,342
10-19160,072139,072129,385126,201123,545125,812131,445
20 - 49197,808166,716152,823148,758150,353153,589160,269
50 - 249292,297247,755229,547230,472229,404236,123254,928
250 and over436,725404,397386,645383,398390,351402,381414,307
 
NACE code 64.20 Activities of holding companies is excluded from sector K.
 
.. indicates that the data has been suppressed to protect the confidentiality of individual enterprises.
Table 4: Enterprise Births (Number) by Activity and Year
  Number of Enterprise Births
 
  2008200920102011201220132014
 
Mining and quarrying (B)2333....202618
Manufacturing (C)620777650770806841997
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (D)2387563934..31
Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (E)6673....66..64
Construction (F)3,4433,5732,4672,5892,7572,4733,526
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)2,4532,7582,5522,6832,7042,3042,468
Transportation and storage (H)1,6651,4541,0479811,0058051,026
Accommodation and food service activities (I)1,1671,1591,1371,2321,2061,1421,251
Information and communication (J)9691,1541,1081,1811,2751,2491,333
Financial and insurance activities excluding activities of holding companies (K-642)437898448385519639418
Real estate activities (L)9341,4079258559158621,171
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)2,5793,3432,5562,6432,7152,4312,800
Administrative and support service activities (N)1,0651,1299378991,0599521,153
Business economy excluding activities of holding companies (B to N,-642)15,44417,84513,95514,34315,07913,82516,256
Education (P)667713642707812670933
Arts, Entertainment & Recreation (R)620903643718726630897
NACE code 64.20 Activities of holding companies is excluded from sector K.
.. indicates that the data has been suppressed to protect the confidentiality of individual enterprises.
Table 5: Enterprise Deaths (Number) by Activity and Year
  Number of Enterprise Deaths
 
  200820092010201120122013*
 
Mining and quarrying (B)183119..2127
Manufacturing (C)8629558627728501,023
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (D)..16......36
Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (E)42566156..74
Construction (F)7,5186,1464,6973,7863,5844,418
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G)2,8483,0392,8572,7712,9523,449
Transportation and storage (H)1,4441,7131,5611,3221,3081,806
Accommodation and food service activities (I)1,3081,3611,3071,2661,2921,398
Information and communication (J)8399809409011,0401,232
Financial and insurance activities excluding activities of holding companies (K-642)..452..383562996
Real estate activities (L)7989048157259181,300
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M)2,2512,5372,4972,3162,6412,941
Administrative and support service activities (N)9251,0529468339451,380
Business economy excluding activities of holding companies (B to N,-642)19,15719,24217,02215,17716,19920,080
Education (P)435454462432536742
Arts, Entertainment & Recreation (R)492566545483605859
NACE code 64.20 Activities of holding companies is excluded from sector K.
*Enterprise deaths data for 2013 is preliminary as 2 years of inactivity are necessary to be declared a final death.
.. indicates that the data has been suppressed to protect the confidentiality of individual enterprises.

Background Notes

This release covers the reference year 2014, however data on enterprise deaths relates to 2013. Statistics are also provided on enterprise births since 2008 that were still active during 2013 and 2014. All 2014 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 at:

http://www.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/database/eirestat/Business%20Demography/Business%20Demography_statbank.asp?sp=Business Demography&Planguage=0

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

http://www.cso.ie/en/surveysandmethodology/multisectoral/businessdemography/backgroundnotes/

For further information on the NACE Rev. 2 classification of economic activity, see this link:

http://www.cso.ie/en/surveysandmethodology/classifications/classificationofindustrialactivity/

Footnotes:

1The Business Demography series 2008 - 2012 has been revised due to active enterprise definition changes. The starting point for all CSO enterprise surveys is the CSO's Central Business Register.  This register contains the active population of enterprises and is updated principally using administrative data as received by CSO from the Revenue Commissioners.   The various Revenue Income Tax, Corporation Tax, VAT and PREM (P35) datasets as received at varying points over a calendar year provide the essential update information for the creation of the active population of enterprises which need to be measured for economic activity.  This information is, in turn, supplemented by information received from the Companies Registration Office (for example on the legal form of the enterprise) and from updates received as part of the surveying of enterprises.

The historic definition of what constitutes an active enterprise outlines that an enterprise is active if it meets any one of the following criteria:

- Paid VAT during the reference year

- Have employees during the reference year

- File a Corporation Tax return for the reference year

- File an Income Tax return for the reference year with turnover of over €50,000.

Furthermore, Eurostat rules allow some flexibility to interpret the above and outline that

If there is insufficient information on turnover or employment to determine whether or not an enterprise is active, then national methods leading to this aim will be accepted”. 

A new EU definition of what constitutes an active enterprise has recently been agreed at EU level and will likely achieve full legislative effect (FRIBS package, see footnote2) within a few years.  This definition is a much clearer outline of what constitutes an active enterprise.  An enterprise is considered to be active if:

"in a certain period it generates turnover, employs staff or makes investments in the period"

2 The Framework Regulation Integrating Business Statistics:

 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/about/opportunities/consultations/fribs

3The private business economy covers the NACE Rev 2 sectors B - N (excluding K64.20 Activities of holding companies). For comparison with previous Business Demography releases only sectors B – N (excluding K64.20, activities of holding companies) figures are included in the release text. Sectors P & R are an extension of the coverage in recent years.

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

R – Arts, Entertainment and Recreation

The number of active enterprises in year t (reference year) cannot be calculated from previous active enterprise figures and births and deaths figures. e.g. the number of active enterprises in year t does not equal the number of active enterprises in year t-1, minus deaths in t-1 plus births in year t. Birth calculations involve profiling work where real births are checked and weights applied based on checks conducted (a similar process is conducted for death calculations). In addition, final enterprise deaths take two years to be finalised, therefore enterprises may not be in enterprise totals in one year but could be in the next year and may still not be considered an enterprise birth or death. 

4Persons engaged include employees, proprietors and family members. Persons engaged are the sum of Employees plus Working Proprietors.

Employees are persons who are paid a fixed wage or salary. Employees are calculated using an annual employment return received from Revenue. This return contains all registered employers and the number of employees they have paid a wage or salary for a reference year. The file can contain individuals paid a wage by an employer as well as self-employed individuals who pay themselves a working wage. An individual may be counted more than once for a reference year if they work multiple jobs in that reference year. The annual employment return from Revenue contains persons at work or temporarily absent because of illness, holidays, strike etc. If an individual is paid a wage for any segment of a reference year they are included in the overall figures.

Working Proprietors (Proprietors and family members); included here are those proprietors, partners, etc and members of their families who work regularly in the firm and are not paid a definite wage or salary. Working Propreitors is not a full count of self-employed individuals as some self-employed receive a wage and are returned via annual employment returns and are included in the Employees calculation.  

Comparison of Business Demography and Quarterly National Household Survey employment levels:
The primary classification used for the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) results is the International Labour Office (ILO) labour force classification. Labour Force Survey data on this basis have been published since 1988. The ILO classification distinguishes the following main subgroups of the population aged 15 or over

In Employment: Persons who worked in the week before the survey for one hour or more for payment or profit, including work on the family farm or business and all persons who had a job but were not at work because of illness, holidays etc. in the week.

Unemployed: Persons who, in the week before the survey, were without work and available for work within the next two weeks, and had taken specific steps, in the preceding four weeks, to find work. It should be noted that as per Eurostat’s operational implementation, the upper age limit for classifying a person as unemployed is 74 years.

Inactive Population (not in labour force): All other persons.

The labour force comprises persons employed plus unemployed. Persons in employment classify their employment status as being self-employed, employee, assisting relative/family worker or on a state sponsored employment scheme. Employees are defined as persons who work for a public or private employer and who receive compensation in the form of wages, salaries, fees, gratuities, payment by results or payment in kind. Self-employed persons who pay themselves a working wage are classified as self-employed in the QNHS.

Key Differences between QNHS and Business Demography figures include:
- Business Demography is based purely on administrative data received from Revenue on an annual basis.
- QNHS is based on survey data which is collected every quarter from the household.
- Business Demography does not cap employment at 1 or at any value for an individual. Business Demography employment is a count of persons engaged at an enterprise and sector level. All work conducted by an individual over an annual period is included in the relevant enterprise (and therefore sector) in which they worked, on the basis of weeks (not hours) worked.
- QNHS caps employment at 2 for an individual in relation to full time equivalence only, therefore it takes into consideration a person’s first and second job. Otherwise employment is capped at one for an individual. 
- Timing issues. As stated, QNHS is conducted on a quarterly basis while Business Demography is conducted over a yearly basis. QNHS also takes into account the hours worked by an individual and uses these values in full time equivalent employment calculations. Business Demography operates on a weeks worked basis from files received from Revenue. If an individual is classed as working 52 weeks in a reference period for an enterprise, they are classed as 1 employee (no hours worked is taking into consideration), irrespective of how many hours they have actually worked in those weeks

5The composition of sectors used in the graphs 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.

6Small and Medium Enterprises are defined as enterprises with less than 250 persons engaged. The persons engaged breakdown provided in the figures are;

Less than 10: Micro Enterprises

10 – 49: Small Enterprises

50 – 249: Medium Enterprises

250+: Large Enterprises.

7Enterprise Deaths: An enterprise death amounts to the dissolution of a combination of production factors with the restriction that no other enterprises are involved in the event. Deaths do not include exits from the population due to mergers, takeovers, break-ups or restructuring of a set of enterprises. It does not include exits from a sub-population resulting only from a change of activity.

An enterprise is included in the count of deaths only if it is not reactivated within two years.

The population of enterprise deaths in 2013 contains all enterprises that ceased at some point during the year 2013. The figures given in the release in relation to deaths are final figures for the period 2008 - 2012 and are preliminary figures for 2013. Final figures for 2013 will be released in June 2017. 

8Enterprise Births: An enterprise birth amounts to the creation of a combination of production factors with the restriction that no other enterprises are involved in the event. Births do not include entries into the population due to mergers, break-ups, split-off or restructuring of a set of enterprises. It does not include entries into a sub-population resulting only from a change of activity.

A birth occurs when an enterprise starts from scratch and actually starts activity. An enterprise creation can be considered an enterprise birth if new production factors, in particular new jobs, is created. If a dormant unit is reactivated within two years, this event is not considered a birth.

The population of enterprise births in 2014 contains all enterprises that started at some stage during the year 2014.

9Population, births and survival data in this release relates to 2014, but the latest deaths data available is for 2013.

10Business Demography figures at an EU level are available at the following link. Latest data available is for 2013.

 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/structural-business-statistics/entrepreneurship/business-demography

 

 

upArrowHide Background Notes

Scan the QR code below to view this release online or go to
http://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/er/bd/businessdemography2014/