Under the new European Business Statistics (EBS) Regulation 2019/2152, the Sectors covered in Structural Business Statistics and Business Demography are now common as part of an EU-wide initiative to improve data processing and enhance coherency across a range of enterprise statistical products. To facilitate comparability with previous years, however, this release (2021) provides data on NACE sectors B to N (excluding K), R92, R93, S95, and S96. Users should note that the results presented in this release include both market and non-market producing enterprises.
The 2021 Business Demography release includes the full population of NACE sectors set out in the Regulation. While the common sectors presented in both Business in Ireland and Business Demography are generally coherent, there may be slight differences in reported enterprises and persons employed. This is primarily due to the application of differing data processing and frame management, including legal form status, which has resulted in those slight differences.
Further releases under the ‘Business in Ireland’ title are planned which will include the full EBS NACE population as well as providing additional data and insights into the composition and constitution of enterprises across the economy.
The Construction sector accounted for the largest number of active enterprises with 70,459 enterprises active in 2021, followed by the Professional, Scientific & Technical sector with 49,583 active enterprises. Of the 48,394 enterprises in the Distribution sector, more than half (24,507) were in the retail sector while 14,265 were wholesalers and 9,622 were in the motor trade.
The sectors with the lowest number of active enterprises were the industrial firms not involved in manufacturing. There were 473 enterprises in the Mining & Quarrying sector while 821 businesses were involved in Electricity, Gas, Steam & Air Conditioning.
| Active Enterprises | |
| Mining & quarrying (B) | 473 |
| Manufacturing (C) | 18206 |
| Electricity, gas etc (D) | 821 |
| Water supply etc (E) | 1095 |
| Construction (F) | 70459 |
| Motor trade (G45) | 9622 |
| Wholesale trade (G46) | 14265 |
| Retail trade (G47) | 24507 |
| Transportation & storage (H) | 24052 |
| Accommodation & food (I) | 19363 |
| Information & communication (J) | 18533 |
| Real estate (L) | 17101 |
| Professional, scientific etc (M) | 49583 |
| Administrative & support (N) | 19711 |
| Other services (R92, R93, S95, S96) | 21888 |
At a detailed sector level, the Distribution sector (G) accounted for the largest number of persons employed with 383,020 in 2021. Of the persons employed in Distributive trades, 233,095 were in the Retail trade, 112,579 were in Wholesale while 37,346 were in the Motor trade. The Manufacturing sector accounted for the second largest number of persons employed with 245,561 in 2021, followed by the Professional, Scientific & Technical sector with 182,657 persons employed.
Although Construction accounted for the largest number of active enterprises by sector in 2021, it was only the fourth largest sector in terms of employment with a total of 170,446 persons employed.
In 2021, Mining & Quarrying accounted for the lowest number of persons employed, at 3,116.
| X-axis label | Persons Employed |
|---|---|
| Mining & quarrying (B) | 3116 |
| Manufacturing (C) | 245561 |
| Electricity, gas etc (D) | 11622 |
| Water supply etc (E) | 10964 |
| Construction (F) | 170446 |
| Motor trade (G45) | 37346 |
| Wholesale trade (G46) | 112579 |
| Retail trade (G47) | 233095 |
| Transportation & storage (H) | 105690 |
| Accommodation & food (I) | 166424 |
| Information & communication (J) | 134280 |
| Real estate (L) | 30807 |
| Professional, scientific etc (M) | 182657 |
| Administrative & support (N) | 154853 |
| Other services (R92, R93, S95, S96) | 64146 |
In 2021, the Manufacturing sector generated the largest Gross Value Added (GVA), when measured at factor cost, in the Structural Business Economy amounting to €152.2 billion. It also had the largest turnover amounting to €364.7 billion or almost €1.5 million per person employed in the sector.
The Information & Communication sector provided the second largest contribution to GVA and turnover in Ireland at €74.1 billion GVA and €256.6 billion turnover. However, with less persons employed in the sector, the turnover per persons employed was higher than Manufacturing at over €1.9 million.
The Mining & Quarrying sector generated the least GVA and turnover in 2021 at €0.6 billion and €1.05 billion. The Accommodation & Food sector had the lowest turnover per persons employed at €0.06 million.
| X-axis label | GVA | Turnover |
|---|---|---|
| Mining & quarrying (B) | 0.554 | 1.052 |
| Manufacturing (C) | 152.199 | 364.747 |
| Electricity, gas etc (D) | 4.207 | 12.201 |
| Water supply etc (E) | 0.628 | 2.842 |
| Construction (F) | 8.853 | 36.221 |
| Motor trade (G45) | 2.167 | 17.038 |
| Wholesale trade (G46) | 16.867 | 128.463 |
| Retail trade (G47) | 8.707 | 48.434 |
| Transportation & storage (H) | 4.693 | 18.888 |
| Accommodation & food (I) | 4.701 | 10.211 |
| Information & communication (J) | 74.141 | 256.617 |
| Real estate (L) | 1.907 | 4.499 |
| Professional, scientific etc (M) | 21.335 | 62.772 |
| Administrative & support (N) | 22.645 | 42.847 |
| Other services (R92, R93, S95, S96) | 2.402 | 7.017 |
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