Statistics Explained

Archive:Office administrative, office support and other business support activities statistics - NACE Rev. 2

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Data from October 2015. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article presents an overview of statistics for office administrative, office support and other business support activities in the European Union (EU), as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 82; hereafter referred to as office and business support activities.

Table 1: Key indicators, office administrative, office support and other business support activities (NACE Division 82), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Figure 1: Sectoral analysis of office administrative, office support and other business support activities (NACE Division 82), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 2a: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, office administrative, office support and other business support activities (NACE Division 82), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 2b: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, office administrative, office support and other business support activities (NACE Division 82), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 3: Largest and most specialised Member States in office administrative, office support and other business support activities (NACE Division 82), EU-28, 2012 (¹) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 4a: Key indicators, office administrative, office support and other business support activities (NACE Division 82), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 4b: Key indicators, office administrative, office support and other business support activities (NACE Division 82), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 5: Key size class indicators, office administrative, office support and other business support activities (NACE Division 82), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Figure 2: Relative importance of enterprise size classes, office administrative, office support and other business support activities (NACE Division 82), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Table 6a: Employment by enterprise size class, office administrative, office support and other business support activities (NACE Division 82), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Table 6b: Value added by enterprise size class, office administrative, office support and other business support activities (NACE Division 82), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

There were 479.7 thousand enterprises operating in the office and business support activities (Division 82) sector in the EU-28 in 2012. Together they employed 2.1 million persons, equivalent to 1.6 % of the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) workforce or 15.7 % of those employed in administrative and support services (Section N). The office and business support activities sector generated EUR 82.0 billion of value added which was 1.3 % of the non-financial business economy total or nearly one fifth (19.4 %) of the administrative and support services total.

The apparent labour productivity of the EU-28’s office and business support activities sector in 2012 was EUR 39.0 thousand of value added per person employed, which although below the non-financial business economy average of EUR 46.2 thousand was higher than the administrative and support services average of EUR 32.0 thousand. Average personnel costs within the EU-28’s office and business support activities sector were, at EUR 31.8 thousand per employee, also slightly lower than the average for the whole of the non-financial business economy (EUR 32.4 thousand per employee), but some EUR 8.7 thousand higher than the administrative and support services average. The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio which combines these two previous indicators and shows the extent to which value added per person employed covers average personnel costs per employee stood at 123.0 % for the EU-28’s office and business support activities sector in 2012, which was below the averages registered for the non-financial business economy (142.7 %) and administrative and support services (137.0 %).

The gross operating rate which shows the relationship between the gross operating surplus and turnover) is one measure of profitability; it stood at 12.9% for the EU-28’s office and business support activities sector in 2012, which was 3.5 percentage points above the non-financial business economy average, but 2.5 percentage points lower than the average rate for administrative and support services.

Sectoral analysis

Almost three out of every four (73.3 %) of the enterprises within the EU-28’s office and business support activities sector in 2012 were classified within business support service activities (Group 82.9). The second largest subsector in terms of enterprises was office administrative and support activities (Group 82.1), with a 16.9 % share. This was slightly more than double the enterprise share (7.7 %) recorded for the organisation of conventions and trade shows (Group 82.3), while the smallest number of enterprises (2.1 % of the sectoral total) was registered for the activities of call centres (Group 82.2).

An analysis of value added for the EU-28’s office and business support activities sector in 2012 confirms the position of business support service activities as the largest subsector, as it accounted for 69.6 % of sectoral value added, some EUR 57.1 billion. The share of value added for the activities of call centres was 14.9 %, clearly above those of the two other subsectors — which were quite similar — 8.0 % for the organisation of conventions and trade shows and 7.7 % for office administrative and support activities.

The pattern observed for value added was reinforced when analysing the breakdown of the EU-28’s office and business support activities workforce in 2012. The relative weight of business support service activities was lower still (62.1 %) and the difference was taken up by the activities of call centres, whose share in sectoral employment reached 22.2 %. The remainder of the workforce was split between office administrative and support activities (9.3 %) and the organisation of conventions and trade shows (6.4 %).

These differences in the relative weights of each subsector according to whichever measure of size was being analysed were, as a consequence, also apparent when analysing the average employment size of enterprises within the EU-28’s office and business support activities sector. Enterprises whose principal activity was that of call centres averaged employment of 46.2 persons in 2012. The average size of enterprises was much lower for the three remaining subsectors: for the organisation of conventions and trade shows subsector the average was 4.0 persons employed per enterprise in 2011; for the business support service activities subsector the average was 3.7 persons employed per enterprise in 2012; and for the office administrative and support activities subsector the ratio in 2012 was 2.4 persons per enterprise.

There were also relatively large differences in relation to apparent labour productivity — which is based upon the average value added generated by each member of the workforce. EU-28 apparent labour productivity across the three subsectors that compose the office and business support activities sector and for which data are available, peaked in 2012 at EUR 44.0 thousand per person employed for the business support service activities subsector; this was the only subsector to record apparent labour productivity above the average for the whole of the administrative and support services sector (EUR 32.0 thousand per person employed), though lower than the non-financial business economy average (EUR 46.2 thousand per person employed). This contrasted with the apparent labour productivity of the two remaining subsectors, which was considerably lower: the office administrative and support activities subsector generated an average of EUR 30.0 thousand of added value for each person employed in 2011, while the figure for the activities of call centres was EUR 26.0 thousand in 2012. No data are available for the organisation of conventions and trade shows sector. Note that the incidence of part-time employment or temporary work impacts upon this measure of productivity, as the apparent labour productivity ratio is based upon a simple head count of the workforce. Part-time working arrangements may therefore play a role in lowering these productivity measures, especially within activities such as those of call centres; the low levels of productivity observed within this subsector should be viewed in this context.

EU-28 average personnel costs per employee peaked in 2012 at EUR 35.0 thousand per employee for the business support service activities, just ahead of office administrative and support activities (EUR 30.0 thousand in 2011); both values were closely situated around the non-financial business economy average of EUR 32.4 per employee. The call centres subsector was therefore something of an exception, as its average personnel costs were much lower, at EUR 23.7 thousand per employee; it should again be noted that this measure is based on a simple head count, and as such is influenced by the incidence of part-time and temporary employment. No data are available for the organisation of conventions and trade shows sector.

The combination of the previous two indicators results in the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio. This was relatively low for all four subsectors within the EU-28’s office and business support activities sector in 2012 and consistently below the non-financial business economy average (142.7 %). Wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios varied from a high of 130.0 % for the organisation of conventions and trade shows down to 100.0 % for office administrative and support activities — where the average value added generated by each person employed covered exactly average personnel costs per employee.

For the gross operating rate, the EU-28’s office administrative and support activities subsector (16.2 %), the business support service activities subsector (13.6 %), and the organisation of conventions and trade shows subsector (12.0 %) each posted gross profitability rates that were above the non-financial business economy average (9.4 %) in 2012. The profitability (based on this measure) of call centres was relatively low, at 6.7 %.

Country analysis

Almost three tenths (29.4 %) of the EU-28’s value added within the office and business support activities sector in 2012 were generated in the United Kingdom. Value added in the United Kingdom was EUR 24.1 billion, while Germany and France were the only other EU Member States to record figures above EUR 10 billion. Portugal was the Member State with the highest degree of specialisation in this sector, in value added terms, as its office and business support activities sector contributed 2.6 % of non-financial business economy value added (compared with an EU-28 average of 1.3 %). The United Kingdom was also relatively specialised in office and business support activities, as this sector provided 2.3 % of its non-financial business economy added value, well ahead of the third ranked country, France (1.5 %). The relative importance of the office and business support activities sector fell to its lowest in Lithuania, Slovenia and Croatia, where it provided less than 0.4 % of the value added generated in the non-financial business economy. Among the non-member countries data are available only for Norway, where the contribution from the office and business support activities sector to non-financial business economy value added was 0.6 %, less than half of the EU-28 average.

An analysis of the number of persons employed shows that Germany had the largest workforce among the EU Member States in 2012, as the 456.7 thousand persons engaged within the office and business support activities sector represented 21.7 % of the EU-28 total. This was higher than for the remaining Member States: the United Kingdom (14.7 %), France (12.7 %), Italy (12.2 %) and Spain (11.6 %) were the only other countries to record double-digit shares of the EU-28 total; these five Member States jointly accounted for almost three quarters (73.0 %) of the office and business support activities workforce.

It is interesting to note that Portugal recorded the highest number of enterprises within the office and business support activities sector, some 121.1 thousand in 2012, equivalent to more than one quarter (25.2 %) of the EU-28 total. However, the size of these enterprises was very small, averaging just 1.4 persons employed per enterprise, which was less than one third of the EU-28 average (4.4 employed per enterprise). By contrast, the largest enterprises were found in Germany, as the 35.0 thousand enterprises that were active in the German office and business support activities sector employed, on average, 13.0 persons each.

Most of the EU Member States reported relatively low apparent labour productivity for the office and business support activities sector in 2012, with productivity levels below their non-financial business economy averages. The only countries to break this pattern were the United Kingdom and Slovakia, where apparent labour productivity was about one third higher than for the non-financial business economy average. The United Kingdom recorded the highest level of apparent labour productivity within the office and business support activities sector, at EUR 78.0 thousand of added value per person employed in 2012.

Slovakia was the only EU Member State to report a wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for the office and business support activities sector that was higher than its national average for the non-financial business economy in 2012, while in Italy these ratios were about equal. Slovakia also recorded the highest level of wage-adjusted labour productivity at 197.4 %. By contrast, there were five Member States where wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for the office and business support activities sector were below 100 %, indicating that the value added generated per person employed did not cover average personnel costs per employee. The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio ranged from 98.1 % down to 72.5 % in Greece, Hungary, Slovenia and Sweden and even lower — 54.9% — in Portugal.

There was a wide range in gross operating rates between the EU Member States for the office and business support activities sector in 2012, ranging from highs of 34.9 %, 22.3 % and 21.5 % in Slovakia, Portugal and the United Kingdom, to a low of -11.3 % for Sweden; this negative rate resulted from total personnel costs exceeding the added value that was generated in the office and business support activities sector. In the majority of the Member States, the gross operating rate for the office and business support activities sector was higher than for the non-financial business economy as a whole; this pattern held true for 17 of the Member States for which data are available. Among the remaining Member States, Hungary, Ireland and Sweden were the countries where the gross operating rates of the office and business support activities sectors were considerably lower than for their non-financial business economies.

Size class analysis

The relative weight of large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons) and micro enterprises (employing fewer than 10 persons) was fairly similar within the EU-28’s office and business support activities sector in 2012. Large enterprises accounted for slightly more than one third (34.4 %) of the sectoral workforce, employing some 723 thousand persons, while the share of micro enterprises on sectoral employment was about three tenths (30.2 %). Their shares of sectoral value added were slightly lower (32.9 % and 26.8 %), though the difference was proportionally higher for micro enterprises. As a consequence, micro enterprises recorded the lowest apparent labour productivity within the EU-28’s office and business support activities sector (EUR 34.7 thousand of value added per person employed).

The remainder of the office and business support activities sector within the EU-28 was split between small enterprises (employing 10 to 49 persons) and medium-sized enterprises (employing 50 to 249 persons); they accounted for 16.6 % and 19.1 % of the workforce in 2012 and for slightly higher shares of sectoral value added, 19.8 % and 20.6 %. As such, their apparent labour productivity was somewhat higher than that for micro or large enterprises.

Sweden was the only EU Member State in 2012 to report that a majority of those working within the office and business support activities sector were employed by large enterprises, almost two thirds (63.4 %) of the total, which was almost twice the average for the whole of the EU-28 (34.4 %). Large enterprises also recorded the highest share of sectoral employment (but less than 50 % of the total) in Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Romania, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Medium-sized enterprises accounted for the highest share of employment within the office and business support activities sector in the Czech Republic (33.3 %), Denmark (32.4 %), Austria (32.3 %) and Finland (31.5 %), while small enterprises had the highest proportion of the workforce (42.4 %) in Luxembourg; otherwise, micro enterprises accounted for the largest share of the office and business support activities workforce (for Estonia, only data for medium-sized enterprises are available). There was no employment within large enterprises in the office and business support activities sector in either Cyprus, Luxembourg or Slovenia in 2012.

The highest proportion of the workforce within the office and business support activities sector employed by micro enterprises was recorded for Portugal (77.2 %) — providing, at least in part, an explanation as to why the average size of enterprises within the Portuguese office and business support activities sector was so low. It is likely that many of these micro enterprises have no paid employees and relate to self-employed persons who have started their own business as sole traders.

Data sources and availability

The analysis presented in this article is based on the main dataset for structural business statistics (SBS) and size class data, all of which are published annually.

The main series provides information for each EU Member State as well as a number of non-member countries at a detailed level according to the activity classification NACE. Data are available for a wide range of variables.

In structural business statistics, size classes are generally defined by the number of persons employed. A limited set of the standard structural business statistics variables (for example, the number of enterprises, turnover, persons employed and value added) are analysed by size class, mostly down to the three-digit (group) level of NACE. The main size classes used in this article for presenting the results are:

  • small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): with 1 to 249 persons employed, further divided into;
    • micro enterprises: with less than 10 persons employed;
    • small enterprises: with 10 to 49 persons employed;
    • medium-sized enterprises: with 50 to 249 persons employed;
  • large enterprises: with 250 or more persons employed.

Context

This article presents an overview of statistics for the office and business support activities sector in the EU, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 82. This division includes the provision of a range of day-to-day office administrative services, as well as ongoing routine business support functions for others, on a contract or fee basis. This division also includes all support service activities typically provided to businesses not elsewhere classified.

Combined office administrative service activities include the provision of a combination of day-to-day office administrative services, such as reception, financial planning, billing and record keeping, personnel and mail services for others on a contract or fee basis. Photocopying, document preparation and other specialised office support activities concerns a variety of specialised office support activities, such as typing and word processing, secretarial support services, letter or resumé writing, or the provision of mailbox rental.

Activities of call centres include both inbound call centres (answering calls) and outbound call centres (to sell or market goods or services to potential customers), regardless of whether these use human operators, automatic call distribution, computer telephone integration, interactive voice response systems or similar methods.

The organisation of conventions and trade shows also includes the organisation, promotion and/or management of events, such as business and trade shows, conventions, conferences and meetings, whether or not including the management and provision of the staff to operate the facilities in which these events take place.

Activities of collection agencies and credit bureaus include the collection of payments for claims and their remittance to clients, such as bill or debt collection services. Also included are the activities of compiling information, such as credit and employment histories of individuals and credit histories of businesses, and providing this information to financial institutions, retailers, or others who have a need to evaluate the creditworthiness of people and businesses. Packaging activities may be performed on a fee or contract basis and include the bottling of liquids (for example, beverages and food), the packaging of solids (blister packaging, foil-covered and so on), security packaging of pharmaceutical preparations, labelling, stamping and imprinting, parcel-packing and gift-wrapping. Other business support service activities not elsewhere classified include a wide range of support activities, including: verbatim reporting and stenotype recording of live legal proceedings and transcribing subsequent recorded materials; real-time (simultaneous) closed captioning of live television performances of meetings or conferences; address bar coding services; bar code imprinting services; fundraising organisation services on a contract or fee basis; repossession services; parking meter coin collection services; activities of independent auctioneers; the administration of loyalty programmes; other support activities typically provided to businesses not elsewhere classified.

This NACE division is composed of four groups:

  • office administrative and support activities (Group 82.1);
  • activities of call centres (Group 82.2);
  • organisation of conventions and trade shows (Group 82.3);
  • business support service activities n.e.c. (Group 82.9).

The provision of operating staff to carry out the complete operations of a business is excluded from the activities covered in this article, as is the provision of a single (only one) particular aspect of these operations. Also excluded from this division are the printing of documents (offset printing, quick printing and so on) and pre-press services (which are part of the printing and reproduction of recorded media, Division 18), the manufacture of soft drinks and production of mineral water (which are part of the manufacture of beverages, Division 11) and packaging activities incidental to transport (which are part of warehousing and support activities for transportation, Division 52).

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

SBS – services (sbs_serv)
Annual detailed enterprise statistics - services (sbs_na_serv)
Annual detailed enterprise statistics for services (NACE Rev. 2 H-N and S95) (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
SMEs - Annual enterprise statistics by size class - services (sbs_sc_sc)
Services by employment size class (NACE Rev. 2 H-N and S95) (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
SBS - regional data - all activities (sbs_r)
SBS data by NUTS 2 regions and NACE Rev. 2 (from 2008 onwards) (sbs_r_nuts06_r2)

Dedicated section

Source data for tables and figures (MS Excel)

Other information

External links

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