2008 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | % Change 2008- 2016 | % Change 2015- 2016 | |
Number of enterprises | 244,195 | 238,249 | 248,843 | 250,033 | 2.4% | 0.5% |
Persons engaged | 1,511,920 | 1,334,291 | 1,402,981 | 1,478,236 | -2.2% | 5.4% |
Enterprise births | 15,444 | 16,256 | 18,100 | 19,249 | 24.6% | 6.3% |
Enterprise deaths | 19,157 | 15,337 | 19,355* | |||
*The enterprise deaths figure for 2015 is an estimate as a 2nd year of inactivity is necessary to be counted as a final death (see Background Notes). |
This release provides data on the "Business Demography" of Ireland for reference year 2016 and earlier years.
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 only.
Note: Due to an administrative error, the enterprise death figures for 2014 in Figure 10 were preliminary as opposed to final. This has been corrected as of 14:30 on 24/10/2018. |
Annual changes and sectoral comparison
There were over 250,000 active enterprises in the private business economy1 in Ireland in 2016, with nearly 1.5 million persons engaged2. This represents an increase of 0.5% and 5.4% respectively from 2015. See summary table. The Services sector3 accounted for over half (51.1%) of all enterprises in 2016, with the Construction sector accounting for just over a fifth (20.6%). In 2008 the Services sector accounted for less than half (46.8%) while the Construction sector accounted for over a quarter (25.4%) of all enterprises. See figures 2 & 3 and summary table.
For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Percentage of Enterprises by Sector 2016 |
---|---|
Services | 51.1 |
Distribution | 18.7 |
Industry | 7 |
Construction | 20.6 |
Financial Service Activities | 2.6 |
When comparing the contribution to total persons engaged between 2008 and 2016, we see that the Services sector accounted for 45.1% of all persons engaged in 2016, up from 40.1% in 2008. The Construction sector accounted for 8.1% of all persons engaged in 2016, down from 12.6% in 2008. Of the remaining three sectors Distribution dropped slightly and Industry and Financial Service Activities remained relatively stable in this period. See figures 4 & 5.
For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Percentage of Enterprises by Sector 2008 |
---|---|
Services | 46.8 |
Distribution | 18.9 |
Industry | 6.5 |
Construction | 25.4 |
Financial Service Activities | 2.4 |
For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Distribution of Persons Engaged by Sector 2016 |
---|---|
Services | 45.1 |
Distribution | 24.1 |
Industry | 15.9 |
Construction | 8.1 |
Financial Service Activities | 6.7 |
Size class composition of the business economy
Small and medium sized enterprises4 accounted for 99.8% of the total enterprise population for 2016. They also accounted for 68.4% of total persons engaged, with large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons) employing 31.6% of persons engaged, despite accounting for only a small fraction (0.2%) of total enterprise numbers. See figure 6.
In 2008, small and medium sized enterprises accounted for 99.8% of the total enterprise population while accounting for a higher percentage (71.1%) of total persons engaged than in 2016. Large enterprises in 2008 accounted for 0.2% of all enterprises while employing 28.9% of persons engaged. See figure 7.
For long labels below use to display on multiple lines | Distribution of Persons Engaged by Sector 2008 |
---|---|
Services | 40.1 |
Distribution | 24.8 |
Industry | 15.9 |
Construction | 12.6 |
Financial Service Activities | 6.6 |
Enterprises | Persons Engaged | |
Under 10 | 91.8 | 26.57 |
10-49 | 6.76 | 22.16 |
50-249 | 1.20 | 19.66 |
250 and over | 0.23 | 31.61 |
Enterprises | Persons Engaged | |
Under 10 | 90.93 | 28.11 |
10-49 | 7.63 | 23.67 |
50-249 | 1.23 | 19.33 |
250 and over | 0.21 | 28.89 |
Enterprise births and deaths
This Business Demography release relates to reference year 2016. However, data on enterprise deaths5 are available up to reference year 2015 only, due to the fact that two complete sets of yearly data are required for an enterprise to be declared a final enterprise death. All enterprise births6 were followed for 5 years (2011 to 2015) to assess their survival rate and the resulting effect on employment.
Almost 31% of all enterprises that were active during 2016 began trading in the period 2011 - 2015 inclusive.
The one year survival rate (relating to enterprises born in one year and still active in the next year) decreased from 2011 to 2015 from 90.4% in 2011 to 83.6% in 2015, and shows almost 84% of enterprises created in 2015 were still active in 2016.
Of the 14,344 enterprises birthed in 2011, 9,535 or 66.5% survived to reference year 2016. See figure 8.
2011 births | 2012 births | 2013 births | 2014 births | 2015 births | |
Year of birth | 14344 | 15080 | 13825 | 16256 | 18100 |
Survived 1 year | 12970 | 13256 | 11708 | 13952 | 15133 |
Survived 2 years | 11943 | 11692 | 10938 | 12685 | |
Survived 3 years | 10720 | 10931 | 10141 | ||
Survived 4 years | 10157 | 10135 | |||
Survived 5 years | 9535 |
There were 19,249 new enterprise births in 2016, an increase of over 6% on 2015. There were 24,383 persons engaged in these newly birthed enterprises. There were less enterprise births in 2008 (15,444) and a lower number of persons engaged (22,873) in these newly birthed enterprises.
The largest numerical increase in the number of births was in the Services sector which increased by 411 from 9,572 in 2015 to 9,983 in 2016. This figure of 9,983 represented the highest number of births recorded for the Services sector in the period 2008 to 2016 (surpassing the figure of 9,646 recorded in 2009).
The Industry sector experienced the highest percentage increase (12.2%) between 2015 and 2016.
Of the remaining three sectors Construction and Distribution experienced an increase and Financial experienced a decrease in the number of births between 2015 and 2016. See Figure 9.
Industry | Services | Construction | Distribution | Financial | Total | |
2008 | 732 | 8379 | 3443 | 2453 | 437 | 15444 |
2009 | 970 | 9646 | 3573 | 2758 | 898 | 17845 |
2010 | 778 | 7710 | 2467 | 2552 | 448 | 13955 |
2011 | 895 | 7791 | 2589 | 2683 | 385 | 14343 |
2012 | 926 | 8175 | 2757 | 2704 | 519 | 15081 |
2013 | 968 | 7441 | 2473 | 2304 | 639 | 13825 |
2014 | 1110 | 8734 | 3526 | 2468 | 418 | 16256 |
2015 | 1185 | 9572 | 4226 | 2573 | 544 | 18100 |
2016 | 1329 | 9983 | 4623 | 2848 | 466 | 19249 |
Over 19,000 enterprises ceased during 20157, resulting in a loss of over 23,488 persons engaged. This represented 26.2% more enterprise deaths than 2014.
Enterprise death figures for 2015 are estimated 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 2015. In 2015, the Services sector had the highest number of enterprise deaths with 10,220 enterprises ceasing activity or 52.8% of total deaths. The Construction and Distribution sectors were also responsible for a large proportion of total deaths, with 4,218 and 3,034 enterprise deaths or 21.8% and 15.7% of overall deaths respectively.
The total number of enterprise deaths increased slightly by 1% in the period 2008 to 2015, with the number of enterprise deaths in the Construction sector falling by 43.9% in the same period. See figure 10.
Industry | Services | Construction | Distribution | Financial | Total | |
2008 | 928 | 7565 | 7518 | 2848 | 298 | 19157 |
2009 | 1058 | 8547 | 6146 | 3039 | 452 | 19242 |
2010 | 963 | 8066 | 4697 | 2857 | 439 | 17022 |
2011 | 874 | 7363 | 3786 | 2771 | 383 | 15177 |
2012 | 957 | 8144 | 3584 | 2952 | 562 | 16199 |
2013 | 1060 | 9319 | 3803 | 3217 | 887 | 18286 |
2014 | 897 | 8257 | 3019 | 2662 | 502 | 15337 |
2015 | 1139 | 10220 | 4218 | 3034 | 744 | 19355 |
As can be seen from figure 11, there were 24,383 persons engaged in enterprise births in 2016. This represents the highest recorded number of persons engaged in enterprise births since the Business Demography series first began. The Services sector accounted for 56.0% (13,659) of the total, followed by the Construction sector which accounted for 21.3% (5,186). From 2015 to 2016 the number of persons engaged in enterprise births increased across all sectors bar the Industry sector, which experienced a slight decrease.
Industry | Services | Construction | Distribution | Financial | Total | |
2008 | 2101 | 12275 | 4009 | 4069 | 419 | 22873 |
2009 | 1280 | 10589 | 2749 | 3155 | 317 | 18090 |
2010 | 711 | 10308 | 2432 | 3206 | 304 | 16961 |
2011 | 994 | 9474 | 2679 | 3352 | 294 | 16793 |
2012 | 2071 | 10105 | 2817 | 2902 | 711 | 18606 |
2013 | 910 | 9250 | 2497 | 3338 | 510 | 16505 |
2014 | 1276 | 11156 | 3663 | 2850 | 437 | 19382 |
2015 | 1704 | 13210 | 4376 | 3333 | 450 | 23073 |
2016 | 1571 | 13659 | 5186 | 3410 | 557 | 24383 |
As can be seen from figure 12, there were 23,488 persons engaged in enterprise deaths in 2015. The Services sector accounted for 52.5% (12,342) of these, followed by the Distribution sector which accounted for 18.6% (4,378). There was an increase in the total number of persons engaged in enterprise deaths from 2014 (22,583) to 2015 (23,488). The total number of persons engaged in enterprise deaths in 2015 was over 32% lower than the level experienced in 2008.
Industry | Services | Construction | Distribution | Financial | Total | |
2008 | 2284 | 13586 | 12457 | 6044 | 338 | 34709 |
2009 | 2049 | 12857 | 7668 | 5475 | 358 | 28407 |
2010 | 1282 | 11078 | 5372 | 4708 | 1250 | 23690 |
2011 | 1277 | 10504 | 4080 | 4537 | 351 | 20749 |
2012 | 1399 | 10673 | 3508 | 4555 | 331 | 20466 |
2013 | 1227 | 13111 | 3544 | 4548 | 427 | 22857 |
2014 | 1169 | 13615 | 3141 | 4127 | 531 | 22583 |
2015 | 1624 | 12342 | 4182 | 4378 | 962 | 23488 |
International Comparison
In EU terms8 (latest data available is for 2015), Ireland’s largest sector of active enterprises, the Services sector, at 51% of total enterprises, is higher than the EU average (47%) but lower than the Netherlands (55%), and the UK (59%) as well as five other Member States. The Services sector is also the UK's largest sector of active enterprises. In 2015, Ireland had the largest percentage share of active enterprises in the EU for the Construction sector at 20%. This compares to 15% for the EU average, the UK at 14% and Germany at 14%. Bulgaria had the smallest percentage at 6%, followed by Greece, Portugal and Romania at 9%. See figure 13.
Industry (%) | Services (%) | Construction (%) | Distribution (%) | Financial (%) | |
EU Average | 10 | 47 | 15 | 26 | 2 |
Belgium | 6 | 51 | 17 | 24 | 2 |
Bulgaria | 10 | 41 | 6 | 42 | 1 |
Czech Republic | 18 | 38 | 17 | 24 | 3 |
Germany | 12 | 49 | 14 | 23 | 2 |
Estonia | 11 | 51 | 13 | 24 | 1 |
Ireland | 7 | 51 | 20 | 19 | 3 |
Greece | 9 | 48 | 9 | 32 | 2 |
Spain | 7 | 47 | 15 | 28 | 3 |
France | 8 | 47 | 18 | 25 | 2 |
Croatia | 15 | 47 | 12 | 25 | 1 |
Italy | 11 | 43 | 14 | 30 | 2 |
Latvia | 10 | 52 | 10 | 26 | 2 |
Lithuania | 12 | 39 | 16 | 33 | 0 |
Luxembourg | 3 | 57 | 11 | 24 | 5 |
Hungary | 9 | 51 | 11 | 25 | 4 |
Netherlands | 6 | 55 | 14 | 22 | 3 |
Austria | 9 | 56 | 10 | 23 | 2 |
Poland | 13 | 38 | 15 | 31 | 3 |
Portugal | 9 | 53 | 9 | 27 | 2 |
Romania | 11 | 40 | 9 | 39 | 1 |
Slovenia | 15 | 50 | 14 | 19 | 2 |
Slovakia | 16 | 38 | 19 | 25 | 2 |
Finland | 11 | 50 | 17 | 20 | 2 |
Sweden | 8 | 57 | 14 | 19 | 2 |
United Kingdom | 7 | 59 | 14 | 18 | 2 |
Norway | 7 | 56 | 19 | 17 | 1 |
2008 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | % Change 2008- 2016 | % Change 2015- 2016 | |
Number of enterprises | 244,195 | 238,249 | 248,843 | 250,033 | 2.4% | 0.5% |
Persons engaged | 1,511,920 | 1,334,291 | 1,402,981 | 1,478,236 | -2.2% | 5.4% |
Enterprise births | 15,444 | 16,256 | 18,100 | 19,249 | 24.6% | 6.3% |
Enterprise deaths | 19,157 | 15,337 | 19,355* | |||
*The enterprise deaths figure for 2015 is an estimate as a 2nd year of inactivity is necessary to be counted as a final death (see Background Notes). |
Table 2: Persons Engaged (Number) by Activity and Year | ||||||||||
Number of Persons Engaged | ||||||||||
2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | ||
Mining and quarrying (B) | 5,134 | 6,176 | 4,384 | 4,269 | 4,180 | 4,146 | 4,058 | 4,164 | 4,058 | |
Manufacturing (C) | 218,792 | 194,172 | 181,611 | 181,050 | 178,700 | 181,091 | 189,966 | 200,047 | 213,117 | |
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (D) | 9,235 | 9,922 | 9,117 | 8,842 | 8,735 | 8,246 | 8,496 | 8,846 | 9,206 | |
Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (E) | 7,785 | 8,009 | 7,189 | 7,534 | 7,578 | 7,508 | 8,025 | 8,740 | 8,971 | |
Construction (F) | 190,069 | 134,313 | 104,545 | 94,640 | 89,351 | 91,122 | 99,860 | 108,720 | 120,341 | |
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 374,598 | 345,721 | 329,380 | 328,147 | 327,687 | 332,768 | 336,866 | 345,911 | 356,057 | |
Transportation and storage (H) | 104,730 | 97,341 | 94,358 | 92,582 | 91,852 | 91,644 | 91,985 | 94,622 | 97,662 | |
Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 163,673 | 154,069 | 148,189 | 146,374 | 150,735 | 155,105 | 161,097 | 170,222 | 179,827 | |
Information and communication (J) | 73,297 | 66,811 | 67,683 | 69,290 | 72,684 | 77,060 | 82,010 | 87,597 | 95,220 | |
Financial and insurance activities excluding activities of holding companies (K-642)1 | 100,487 | 94,273 | 96,503 | 96,545 | 97,673 | 96,371 | 96,460 | 97,836 | 99,502 | |
Real estate activities (L) | 21,613 | 17,312 | 18,423 | 19,095 | 20,111 | 20,848 | 22,775 | 24,723 | 25,744 | |
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M) | 125,971 | 113,458 | 108,168 | 108,630 | 110,924 | 115,426 | 120,245 | 127,591 | 135,887 | |
Administrative and support service activities (N) | 116,536 | 103,884 | 100,925 | 102,328 | 104,559 | 106,682 | 112,448 | 123,962 | 132,644 | |
Business economy excluding activities of holding companies (B to N,-642) | 1,511,920 | 1,345,461 | 1,270,475 | 1,259,326 | 1,264,769 | 1,288,017 | 1,334,291 | 1,402,981 | 1,478,236 | |
1 NACE code 64.20 Activities of holding companies is excluded from sector K. |
Table 3: Persons Engaged (Number) by Size Class and Year | |||||||||
Number of Persons Engaged | |||||||||
Business economy excluding activities of holding companies (B to N,-642)1 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 |
All persons engaged size classes | 1,511,920 | 1,345,461 | 1,270,475 | 1,259,326 | 1,264,769 | 1,288,017 | 1,334,291 | 1,402,981 | 1,478,236 |
Under 10 | 425,018 | 387,521 | 372,075 | 370,497 | 371,116 | 370,112 | 373,342 | 386,725 | 392,829 |
10-19 | 160,072 | 139,072 | 129,385 | 126,201 | 123,545 | 125,812 | 131,445 | 138,098 | 143,842 |
20 - 49 | 197,808 | 166,716 | 152,823 | 148,758 | 150,353 | 153,589 | 160,269 | 169,527 | 183,730 |
50 - 249 | 292,297 | 247,755 | 229,547 | 230,472 | 229,404 | 236,123 | 254,928 | 274,531 | 290,604 |
250 and over | 436,725 | 404,397 | 386,645 | 383,398 | 390,351 | 402,381 | 414,307 | 434,100 | 467,231 |
1 NACE code 64.20 Activities of holding companies is excluded from sector K. |
Table 4: Enterprise Births (Number) by Activity and Year | ||||||||||
Number of Enterprise Births | ||||||||||
2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | ||
Mining and quarrying (B) | 23 | 33 | .. | .. | 20 | 26 | 18 | 18 | 24 | |
Manufacturing (C) | 620 | 777 | 650 | 770 | 806 | 841 | 997 | 1,060 | 1,196 | |
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (D) | 23 | 87 | 56 | 39 | 34 | .. | 31 | 43 | 57 | |
Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (E) | 66 | 73 | .. | .. | 66 | .. | 64 | 64 | 52 | |
Construction (F) | 3,443 | 3,573 | 2,467 | 2,589 | 2,757 | 2,473 | 3,526 | 4,226 | 4,623 | |
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 2,453 | 2,758 | 2,552 | 2,683 | 2,704 | 2,304 | 2,468 | 2,573 | 2,848 | |
Transportation and storage (H) | 1,665 | 1,454 | 1,047 | 981 | 1,005 | 805 | 1,026 | 1,044 | 1,083 | |
Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 1,167 | 1,159 | 1,137 | 1,232 | 1,206 | 1,142 | 1,251 | 1,452 | 1,462 | |
Information and communication (J) | 969 | 1,154 | 1,108 | 1,181 | 1,275 | 1,249 | 1,333 | 1,375 | 1,527 | |
Financial and insurance activities excluding activities of holding companies (K-642)1 | 437 | 898 | 448 | 385 | 519 | 639 | 418 | 544 | 466 | |
Real estate activities (L) | 934 | 1,407 | 925 | 855 | 915 | 862 | 1,171 | 1,406 | 1,330 | |
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M) | 2,579 | 3,343 | 2,556 | 2,643 | 2,715 | 2,431 | 2,800 | 3,000 | 3,174 | |
Administrative and support service activities (N) | 1,065 | 1,129 | 937 | 899 | 1,059 | 952 | 1,153 | 1,296 | 1,407 | |
Business economy excluding activities of holding companies (B to N,-642) | 15,444 | 17,845 | 13,955 | 14,343 | 15,079 | 13,825 | 16,256 | 18,100 | 19,249 | |
1 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 | ||||||||||
2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 2 | |||
Mining and quarrying (B) | 18 | 31 | 19 | .. | 21 | .. | 20 | 22 | ||
Manufacturing (C) | 862 | 955 | 862 | 772 | 850 | 935 | 796 | 1,019 | ||
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply (D) | .. | 16 | .. | .. | .. | .. | 25 | 39 | ||
Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (E) | 42 | 56 | 61 | 56 | .. | 68 | 56 | 59 | ||
Construction (F) | 7,518 | 6,146 | 4,697 | 3,786 | 3,584 | 3,803 | 3,019 | 4,218 | ||
Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (G) | 2,848 | 3,039 | 2,857 | 2,771 | 2,952 | 3,217 | 2,662 | 3,034 | ||
Transportation and storage (H) | 1,444 | 1,713 | 1,561 | 1,322 | 1,308 | 1,559 | 1,179 | 1,561 | ||
Accommodation and food service activities (I) | 1,308 | 1,361 | 1,307 | 1,266 | 1,292 | 1,434 | 1,370 | 1,435 | ||
Information and communication (J) | 839 | 980 | 940 | 901 | 1,040 | 1,187 | 1,183 | 1,331 | ||
Financial and insurance activities excluding activities of holding companies (K-642)1 | .. | 452 | .. | 383 | 562 | 887 | 502 | 744 | ||
Real estate activities (L) | 798 | 904 | 815 | 725 | 918 | 1,085 | 941 | 1,384 | ||
Professional, scientific and technical activities (M) | 2,251 | 2,537 | 2,497 | 2,316 | 2,641 | 2,840 | 2,600 | 3,087 | ||
Administrative and support service activities (N) | 925 | 1,052 | 946 | 833 | 945 | 1,214 | 984 | 1,422 | ||
Business economy excluding activities of holding companies (B to N,-642) | 19,157 | 19,242 | 17,022 | 15,177 | 16,199 | 18,287 | 15,337 | 19,355 | ||
1 NACE code 64.20 Activities of holding companies is excluded from sector K. | ||||||||||
2 The enterprise deaths figures for 2015 are an estimate as a 2nd year of inactivity is necessary to be counted as a final death (see Background Notes). | ||||||||||
.. indicates that the data has been suppressed to protect the confidentiality of individual enterprises. |
This release covers the reference year 2016, however data on enterprise deaths relates to 2015. Statistics are also provided on enterprise births since 2011 that were still active during 2016. All 2016 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:
The Background Notes at the link below provide more details on the release:
http://www.cso.ie/en/methods/surveybackgroundnotes/businessdemography/
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 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.
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
An enterprise is considered to be active in a certain period if it generates turnover, employs staff or makes investments in that period.
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.
Geographical Breakdown the geographical breakdown for enterprises is an approximation. The county breakdown is based on the address at which an enterprise is registered for Revenue purposes, rather than where the business actually operates from, because no comprehensive administrative data source is currently available for business locations. In particular, where an enterprise has local units in several counties, but one head office where all employment is registered, all its employees will be counted against the county where the head office is located. Enterprises where the county location is categorised as Unknown generally have Revenue registered addresses outside of the Republic of Ireland. However, the employees registered with these addresses are working in the Republic of Ireland.
2Persons 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 Proprietors 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 taken into consideration), irrespective of how many hours they have actually worked in those weeks.
3The 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.
4Small 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.
5Enterprise 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 2015 contains all enterprises that ceased at some point during the year 2015. The figures given in the release in relation to deaths are final figures for the period 2008 – 2014. The death figures for 2015 in this release are estimates of final deaths based on analysis of preliminary and final death figures from previous years. This will be revised to a final figure next year, when two years of death data is available. The death figures for 2015 in the Statbank tables are preliminary based on one year’s data, and are not adjusted as per the estimates given in this release.
6Enterprise 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, are created. If a dormant unit is reactivated within two years, this event is not considered a birth.
The population of enterprise births in 2016 contains all enterprises that started at some stage during the year 2016.
7Population, births and survival data in this release relates to 2016, but the latest deaths data available is for 2015.
8Business Demography figures at an EU level are available at the following link. Latest data available is for 2015.
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/structural-business-statistics/entrepreneurship/business-demography
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