Statistics Explained

Archive:Publishing activities statistics - NACE Rev. 2

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This article presents an overview of statistics for publishing activities in the European Union (EU), as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 58. It belongs to a set of statistical articles on 'Business economy by sector'

Table 1: Key indicators, publishing activities (NACE Division 58), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Figure 1: Sectoral analysis of publishing activities (NACE Division 58), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 2a: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, publishing activities (NACE Division 58), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 2b: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, publishing activities (NACE Division 58), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 3: Largest and most specialised Member States in publishing activities (NACE Division 58), EU-28, 2012 (¹) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 4a: Key indicators, publishing activities (NACE Division 58), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 4b: Key indicators, publishing activities (NACE Division 58), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 5: Key size class indicators, publishing activities (NACE Division 58), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Figure 2: Relative importance of enterprise size classes, publishing activities (NACE Division 58), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Table 6a: Employment by enterprise size class, publishing activities (NACE Division 58), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Table 6b: Value added by enterprise size class, publishing activities (NACE Division 58), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

There were around 90 thousand enterprises operating with publishing activities (Division 58) as their main activity in the EU-28 in 2011. Together they employed 900 thousand persons in 2012, equivalent to 0.7 % of all persons employed in the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) and 15.1 % of the information and communication services (Section J) workforce. They generated an estimated EUR 60.0 billion of value added in 2012, which was equivalent to 1.0 % of the non-financial business economy total, or 11.6 % of the information and communication services total.

Average personnel costs within the EU-28’s publishing activities sector were, at EUR 44.0 thousand per employee in 2012, lower than the average for the whole of information and communication services (EUR 51.7 thousand per employee). However, personnel costs per employee for publishing activities were above the non-financial business economy average (EUR 32.4 thousand per employee).

Sectoral analysis

Much has been written about the demise of the book publishing subsector in the face of competition from increasingly digitised media. However, some 27.7 thousand enterprises were classified with book publishing (Class 58.11) as their main activity in 2012, which represent around 3 out of every 10 enterprises within the EU-28’s publishing activities sector. The next highest number of enterprises (21.3 thousand) was recorded for the more specialised activity of publishing journals and periodicals (Class 58.14), while other publishing activities (Class 58.19) and other software publishing (Class 58.29) subsectors counted about 18 thousand enterprises.

Turning attention to the breakdown of the publishing activities workforce: the picture was quite different, suggesting that the average size of enterprises varied considerably between subsectors. The largest employer was the publishing of newspapers (Class 58.13), with an EU-28 workforce of 301.8 thousand in 2012, which equated to one third of the total for publishing activities. Approximately one quarter of the sectoral workforce was composed of those employed within the publishing of journals and periodicals, while book publishing activities and other software publishing accounted for about one in six of the sectoral workforce.

In output terms, the relative importance of the EU-28’s publishing of newspapers subsector was somewhat lower than its share of employment. With EUR 14.8 billion of added value in 2012, newspaper publishing accounted for about one quarter of the total value added that was generated within the EU-28’s publishing activities. The same was true for the publishing of journals and periodicals (EUR 15.0 billion) and other software publishing, while book publishing accounted for about one sixth of sectoral added value.

Even though information on the apparent labour productivity for publishing activities sector of the EU-28 is missing, it is safe to assume that it was relatively high considering data available for its subsectors. Aside from the relatively small other publishing subsector (Class 58.19), which recorded apparent labour productivity of EUR 40.0 thousand per person employed in 2012, each of the remaining subsectors for which data are available recorded apparent labour productivity that was considerably above the non-financial business economy average (EUR 46.2 thousand per person employed), ranging from EUR 49.0 thousand per person employed for publishing of newspapers through EUR 62.0 thousand per person employed for book publishing, to EUR 71.0 thousand per person employed for publishing of journals and periodicals before peaking at EUR 118.0 thousand per person employed for the publishing of directories and mailing lists (Class 58.12, 2011 data). No information is available for publishing of computer games and other software publishing subsectors (Classes 58.21 and 58.29), however, these are known to have rather high apparent labour productivity levels.

Across publishing activities, EU-28 average personnel costs per employee rose to their highest level for other software publishing, peaking at EUR 59.6 thousand per employee in 2012. As with apparent labour productivity, the only subsector to record personnel costs per employee below the non-financial business economy average (EUR 32.4 thousand per employee) was the residual group of other publishing activities (EUR 26.8 thousand per employee), while personnel costs per employee fell within the relatively narrow range of EUR 41.7 thousand per employee to EUR 50.0 thousand per employee across the remaining subsectors for which data are available.

Aside from the EU-28’s publishing of newspapers subsector, which had a relatively low wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio (121.0 % in 2012), all of the remaining publishing subsectors for which data are available recorded wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios that were above the non-financial business economy average (142.7 %), rising from 148.0 % for the book publishing to 170.0 % for publishing of directories and mailing lists.

While there is no information available for the whole of the EU-28 publishing activities sector for the gross operating rate, there is a limited amount of data for seven NACE classes. Among these, EU-28 gross operating rates in 2012 were generally much higher than the non-financial business economy average (9.4 %), ranging from 14.1 % for book publishing to 24.0 % for publishing of computer games. The only exception to this pattern was the publishing of newspapers, where the EU-28 gross operating rate was moderately below the non-financial business economy average, at 7.3 % in 2012.

Country analysis

Germany had the highest level of value added among the EU Member States within the publishing activities sector in 2012, at EUR 13.3 billion. The United Kingdom and France were also relatively important players within the publishing activities sector, as they recorded added value of EUR 12.9 billion and EUR 10.6 billion, which was some 3.8 times as high as the next country — Italy (EUR 2.8 billion). As such, the three largest Member States accounted for just above 60 % of the total value added generated by the in the EU-28.

In value added terms, Finland was the most specialised in the publishing activities sector in 2012, generating 1.5 % of its non-financial business economy value added in this sector. The United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Denmark, Greece and Germany were the only other EU Member States to report that not less than 1.0 % of their non-financial business economy value added was generated by publishing activities; in Norway, the publishing activities sector generated 1.1 % of non-financial business economy value added. At the other end of the scale, the relative importance of publishing activities was at its lowest in the Baltic Member States, Cyprus, Italy, Belgium and Bulgaria, where this sector accounted for no more than 0.5 % of non-financial business economy added value.

At a more detailed level, the United Kingdom had the highest share of EU-28 value added for: book publishing; the publishing of journals and periodicals (where it was also the most specialised Member State); and other publishing activities. These figures may be influenced to some extent by the prominent position of the English language. On the other hand, France recorded the highest shares of EU-28 value added for computer games and for other software publishing (where it was also the most specialised Member State). Germany accounted for over three tenths of the EU-28’s value added for the publishing of newspapers and recorded a level of value added that was 1.7 times as high as in the United Kingdom, which recorded the next highest level.

Most EU Member States reported wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for publishing activities in 2012 that were below their national averages for the whole of the non-financial business economy. This was particularly true in the Baltic Member States, Bulgaria and Romania, where the difference was in excess of 50 percentage points. The highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for publishing activities were recorded in the United Kingdom (187.1 %), Luxembourg (173.8 %) and Germany (166.3 %). These three countries, together with the Netherlands and France were the only EU Member States (among those for which data are available) to report wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for publishing activities that were above those for their non-financial business economies as a whole.

Size class analysis

Large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons) generated half (50.0 %) of the EU-28’s value added within the publishing activities sector in 2012. The breakdown of value added between the three enterprise size classes that constitute the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) aggregate showed that the relative weight of enterprises within the publishing activities sector rose as a function of their average size, with medium-sized enterprises accounting for one quarter (25.0 %) of sectoral value added.

Large enterprises within the EU-28’s publishing activities sector generated approximately EUR 30.0 billion of value added in 2012 and employed 363.7 thousand persons. Combining these two figures, the apparent labour productivity of large enterprises within the EU-28’s publishing activities sector was EUR 82.5 thousand per person employed — the highest level of productivity recorded among any of the four enterprise size classes in this activity and twice the level for micro enterprises (employing fewer than 10 persons).

Across the EU Member States, the contribution of large enterprises to the value added generated within the publishing activities sector varied considerably. In Cyprus, there were no large enterprises engaged in these activities. By contrast, 64.5 % of the added value generated in the Netherlands stemmed from large enterprises; a similar share was recorded for the United Kingdom (62.3 %). In eight other Member States (subject to data availability) large enterprises accounted for the highest share of value added created within the publishing activities sector.

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 publishing activities sector in the EU, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 58. This division includes activities such as the publishing of books, periodicals and software, as well as other publishing activities. The output of the publishing activities sector is characterised by the intellectual creativity required in its development and many of the products that are made within this sector are protected by copyright.

Book publishing includes publishing in print, electronic (CD, electronic displays and so on) or audio form or on the internet. The publishing of directories and mailing lists includes the publishing of lists of facts/information that are protected in their form, but not in their content. The publishing of newspapers includes the activities of publishing newspapers, including advertising newspapers, appearing at least four times a week. The publishing of journals and periodicals includes the activities of publishing periodicals and other journals, appearing less than four times a week. Directories and mailing lists, newspapers, journals and periodicals can be published in print or electronic form, including on the internet. Other publishing activities include publishing (including online) of catalogues, photos, engravings and postcards, greeting cards, forms, posters, reproduction of works of art, advertising material and other printed matter, online publishing of statistics and other information.

The publishing of computer games includes games for all platforms. Other software publishing includes publishing of ready-made (non-customised) software, including translation or adaptation of non-customised software for a particular market on own account.

This NACE division is composed of seven classes organised into two groups:

  • book publishing (Class 58.11);
  • publishing of directories and mailing lists (Class 58.12);
  • publishing of newspapers (Class 58.13);
  • publishing of journals and periodicals (Class 58.14);
  • other publishing activities (Class 58.19);
  • publishing of computer games (Class 58.21);
  • other software publishing (Class 58.29).

This division excludes publishing of motion pictures, videotapes and movies on DVD or similar media, of music and sheet books and the production of master copies for records or audio material (Division 59, part of the motion picture, video and television programme production, sound recording and music publishing activities sector). It also excludes printing and the reproduction of recorded media (Division 18), as well as the retail sale of non-customised software (Division 47, which forms part of retail trade), the production of software not associated with publishing, including translation or adaptation of non-customised software for a particular market on a fee or contract basis (Division 62, part of computer programming, consultancy and related activities), and the online provision of software (Division 63, part of information service activities).

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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