There were over 189,000 active enterprises in the private business economy¹ in Ireland in 2011, with nearly 1.22 million person’s engaged². This represents a decrease of 3.3% and 1.2% respectively from 2010. See summary table. The services sector³ accounts for almost half (48%) of all enterprises in 2011, with the construction sector accounting for a fifth (19%) of enterprises. In 2008 construction accounted for 26% of total enterprises, by 2011 it accounted for 19%.  See figures 1 - 3 and summary table.

When comparing the trend for the number of persons engaged in the private business economy to the number of enterprises we see a similar situation in relation to the services sector and the construction sector. In 2011 the services sector accounted for 42% of all persons engaged while in 2008 it accounted for 39%. Construction accounted for 7% of all persons engaged in 2011, down from 13% in 2008. See figures 4 & 5.

Small and medium sized enterprises⁴ accounted for nearly 99.8% of the total enterprise population for 2011. They also accounted for 68.6% of total persons engaged, with large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons), despite accounting for only a small fraction of total enterprise numbers, employing over 30% of persons engaged. See figure 6.

This Business Demography release relates to reference year 2011, however data on enterprise deaths⁵ are up to reference year 2010. All enterprise births⁶ were followed for 5 years (2006 to 2011) to assess their survival rate and the resulting effect on employment.

Over 30% of all enterprises that were active during 2011 began trading in the period 2006 – 2011 inclusive. These enterprises accounted for nearly 10% of persons engaged in the private business economy in 2011. The one year survival rate (enterprises which have survived one year to reference year, e.g. enterprise was born in 2010 and was still in operation in 2011) for enterprises to 2011 has decreased since 2007, highlighting the difficulties of staying in business over the period. Of the 16,696 enterprises which were enterprise births in 2006, 10,188 or 61% have survived to reference year 2011. See figure 7.

During 2011, over 11,800 enterprise births occurred, an increase of over 5% on 2010. There were over 10,600 persons engaged in these newly birthed enterprises.

Sector D⁷ “Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning Supply” had the highest enterprise birth rate of 10.97% (34 enterprises), albeit a sector with a relatively few number of enterprises. The second highest was 10.62% in sector J “Information and Communication” (1,068 enterprises).The number of births in sector F “Construction” increased from 1,818 to 1,976, but is still below 2009 birth levels and less than 35% of the 2006 peak (5,717).

Small decreases in the number of births were recorded in sectors D “Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply”, G “Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles” and L “Real estate activities” with increases observed in all other sectors. See figure 8.

Over 18,000 enterprises ceased during 2010⁸, resulting in a loss of nearly 25,000 jobs. This represents 25% less deaths than 2009. The sector with the largest reduction in the number of enterprises was sector F “Construction” with over 12.75% of enterprises ceasing. This was followed by sector L “Real Estate Activities” at almost 10.1%. In comparison with 2009 figures, the number of deaths decreased in all sectors. See figure 9.

In terms of employment, sector F “Construction” had the most persons engaged in ceased enterprises, with a loss of 6,207 jobs. The second highest was sector G “Wholesale and Retail Trade, Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motor Cycles” with a loss of just over 5,000 jobs. As can be seen from figure 10, the number of persons engaged from enterprise births overall remained relatively steady in 2010 and 2011, while the number of persons engaged in enterprises which ceased decreased in 2010 overall.

In EU terms⁹ (latest data available for 2010), Ireland’s largest sector of active enterprises, the services sector at 47%, is higher than the EU average (45%) but lower than Germany (51%) and the UK (55%). Denmark has the largest reliance on the services sector at nearly 74%. In 2010, Ireland had the largest percentage share of active enterprises in the EU for sector F “Construction” at over 20%. This compares to 15% for the EU average, the UK at 16% and Germany at 13%. Bulgaria had the smallest percentage of active enterprises in construction at nearly 7% followed closely by Denmark at 8%. See figure 11.