Regarding the employment numbers, annual average employment figures in NACE codes 20 (manufacture of chemicals and chemical products) and 21 (manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations) are provided below. These data reflect Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) employment by NACE Rev. 2, two digit classification. However, I am informed by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) that caution should be taken with interpreting this disaggregated data due to their small sample size and therefore high margin of error. According to the data, the combined employment contribution of the NACE codes 20 and 21 in the second quarter of 2013 amounted to about 37,500 employees, or around 2.0 per cent of total economy-wide employment. My Department is not aware of any official data on the indirect employment resulting from the sector. CSO input-output analysis tables suggest that the multiplier effect from pharma-chem activity is low compared to other sectors. This is likely due to the high share of imports and intellectual property in pharma-chem output.
|
Average Employment (‘000s)
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013 H1
|
|
NACE codes 20 and 21
|
32.6
|
31.1
|
35.0
|
33.3
|
32.9
|
37.2
|
When looking at specific sectors, the most useful way of estimating the contribution to growth is to look at the value added of that sector using the output (rather than expenditure) approach to estimating economic activity. Gross value added (GVA) is conceptually similar to GDP, but examines production on a sectoral level, rather than through final expenditure. The CSO’s National Income and Expenditure tables provide data on GVA in the pharma-chem sector (NACE codes 20 and 21) in both constant and current prices, although the data also include NACE code 19 (believed to be small relative to the other two). The table below therefore provides estimates of the GVA of NACE codes 20 and 21, their percentage of total output and their contribution to GVA growth between 2008 and 2012.
|
GVA (constant basic prices)
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
|
GVA – NACE codes 19, 20 and 21
(€ million)
|
10,239
|
12,633
|
15,981
|
17,412
|
17,868
|
|
GVA – NACE codes 19, 20 and 21
(% of total GVA)
|
7
|
9
|
11
|
12
|
12
|
|
Total GVA growth
(% y-o-y)
|
-0.4
|
-4.1
|
-0.9
|
2.8
|
0.6
|
|
- NACE 19, 20 and 21 contribution (percentage points)
|
-0.8
|
1.7
|
2.6
|
0.9
|
0.3
|
Trade figures are reported on a monthly basis as part of the CSO’s “Goods Exports and Imports” release, and are broken down (in value terms) according to standard international trade classification (SITC) categories. Exports of the sector can be loosely classified as SITC categories 51 (organic chemicals) and 54 (medical and pharmaceutical products), and these are outlined in the table.
|
Exports (€, million)
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
2012
|
2013
(Jan-Aug)
|
|
SITC category codes 51 and 54
|
34,566
|
39,852
|
43,682
|
46,362
|
44,604
|
27,128
|
It should however be noted that, due to the high import intensity of output in the pharma-chem sector, the net impact on GDP of any decline in exports is unlikely to be as large as the gross decline. Research conducted by officials from my Department (available at tinyurl.com/pharmapaper) suggests an input share of gross output of about 50 per cent in the sector. A decrease in exports in the sector is therefore likely to coincide with declining imports (on both the services side through licenses and royalties as well as raw chemical imputs), reducing the impact on net trade.
