Small and Medium Enterprises Employment Numbers

Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Questions (171)

Terence Flanagan

Question:

171. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Taoiseach the number of persons that were employed by small and medium enterprises operating in the Dublin North East and Dublin North Central constituencies in each year since 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2584/13]

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Written answers

Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach (Deputy Paul Kehoe)

The Central Statistics Office data on employment in enterprises is available from the “Business Demography” figures. Small to medium enterprises (SME’s) are defined as follows: 1, Small Enterprises, less than 50 persons engaged; 2, Medium Enterprises, between 50 and 249 persons engaged; and 3, Large Enterprises, greater than 250 persons engaged.

The breakdown requested by the Deputy is not available. A breakdown of persons employed by SME’s is only available at county level. Figures for Dublin (Table 1) and the State (Table 2) are provided in the following tables. The year 2010 is the latest reference year for which final data is available.

The enterprise figures quoted in this answer relate to the private business economy, which includes Industry, Construction and Services in NACE Rev 2 sectors B – N (excluding 64.20 “Activities of holding companies”). Enterprises in the Public Sector, Health, Education and Agriculture are not covered.

Table 1: Dublin- Number of Persons Engaged by Year (2006 - 2010):

Enterprise	Persons Engaged	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Small Enterprises	0 - 49	219,749	228,060	226,182	203,470	193,931
Medium Enterprises	50 - 249	122,846	132,536	131,221	111,249	105,203
Large Enterprises	250 and over	272,026	306,142	315,977	285,434	275,587
All Enterprises	Total	614,621	666,738	673,380	600,153	574,721

Table 2: State - Number of Persons Engaged by Year (2006 - 2010):

Enterprise	Persons Engaged	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Small Enterprises	0 - 49	758,404	786,790	761,916	662,374	622,020
Medium Enterprises	50 - 249	286,847	306,014	295,933	245,282	232,498
Large Enterprises	250 and over	397,821	435,491	445,185	401,130	382,867
All Enterprises	Total	1,443,072	1,528,295	1,503,034	1,308,786	1,237,385

The following should be noted when analysing the figures provided above. The figures provided are on a “person engaged in employment” basis and not on an employee basis. The definitions used are: 1, Persons engaged, includes employees, proprietors and family members.; 2, Employees are persons who are paid a fixed wage or salary, persons at work or temporarily absent because of illness, holidays, strike etc, are included and persons working on a labour-only subcontract basis are excluded and 3, 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.