Within the 23 main sectors analysed in the publication, there were more men than women employed in 19 sectors in the EU27 in 2006. The sectors with the highest shares of men employed were construction (92%) and non-energy mining & quarrying (89%). The proportion of women was higher than that of men only in textiles & clothing (69%), retail trade (62%), hotels & restaurants (56%) and financial services (52%).
In the EU27, part-time work was most common in retail trade in 2006 (29% of employees in this sector worked part-time), hotels & restaurants (28%) and business services (21%).
Hotels & restaurants (36%) had the highest proportion of young employees (aged 15-29) in the EU27 in 2006, followed by retail trade (30%) and motor trades (29%). The real estate sector (30%) had the highest share of employees aged 50 and over, followed by the non-energy mining & quarrying, energy and recycling & water supply sectors (all 27%).
125 million persons employed in the EU27 non-financial business economy
In 2004, the total number of enterprises in the EU27 non-financial business economy was almost 19 million. In total these enterprises generated 5 100 billion euro in value added and employed 125 million persons. Among the main sectors, business services had the highest number of active enterprises with almost four million and non-energy mining & quarrying had the fewest with 17 000 enterprises.
Business services also had the highest value-added with 740 bn euro, the equivalent of 15% of total value added in all sectors, followed by wholesale trade (463 bn or 9%) and construction (434 bn or 9%).
Business services were also the biggest sector in terms of employment, with nearly 20 million persons employed, representing 16% of all employment in the non-financial business economy in the EU27 in 2004, followed by retail trade (17 million or 14%) and construction (13 million or 11%).
Average personnel costs in 2004 in the EU27 were highest in the transport equipment sector (43 000 euro per employee) and in chemicals, rubber & plastic (39 000 euro) and lowest in hotels & restaurants and textiles & clothing (both 15 000 euro). Apparent labour productivity was highest in the energy sector at 121 000 euro per person employed and in real estate (87 000 euro) and lowest in hotels & restaurants (19 000 euro) and textiles & clothing (20 000 euro).
External trade in industrial products in deficit by 170 bn euro in 2006
In 2006, the EU27 exported industrial products worth 1 080 bn euro and imported products worth 1 250 bn euro, resulting in an extra-EU27 trade deficit of 170 bn euro in industrial products.
Electrical & electronic equipment and chemicals, rubber & plastics were the two most exported product groups, representing 18% each of total industrial exports. Machinery & equipment (96 bn euro) and transport equipment (74 bn) had the largest surpluses.
Energy and electrical & electronic equipment were the most imported product groups, representing 26% and 21% respectively of total industrial imports. Energy (-265 bn euro) and electrical & electronic machinery (-69 bn) also had the largest deficits.
Business services in the EU27 employed over 19 million persons
The business services sector includes legal, accounting & management services, which accounted for 30% of value added in this sector, computer services (21%), other business services (20%), architectural & engineering activities (15%), labour recruitment (10%) and advertising (5%).
The United Kingdom and Germany were in 2004 the two most important countries for computer services with 30% and 18% respectively of total EU27 value added in this sub-sector. The highest apparent labour productivity for computer services was found in Ireland (94 000 euro per person employed), followed by the United Kingdom (82 000 euro) and the lowest in Bulgaria (6 000 euro) and Romania (9 000 euro). The EU27 average was 60 000 euro. The highest average personnel cost was found in Sweden and Belgium both with 63 000 euro per employee and the lowest in Bulgaria and Romania (both 5 000 euro). The EU27 average was 49 000 euro.
Italy and Germany lead in textiles
The textiles, clothing and leather manufacturing sector generated value added of 68 bn euro in 2004 in the EU27 and employed 3.4 million persons. This corresponds to 1.3% of total value added and to 2.7% of total employment in the non-financial business economy. Textiles generated almost half of value added within this sector.
Italy was the leading Member State in the textiles sub-sector with 30% of total value added, followed by Germany (14%) as well as France and the United Kingdom (both 11%).
The apparent labour productivity within the textiles sub-sector ranged from 3 000 euro per person employed in Romania to 55 000 euro in Denmark, compared to the EU27 average of 27 000 euro. The average personnel cost ranged from 2 000 euro per employee in Bulgaria and Romania to 41 000 euro in Denmark, compared to 20 000 euro on average in the EU27.
