Archive:Postal and courier services statistics - NACE Rev. 2
- Data from April 2013. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
This article presents an overview of statistics for postal and courier services in the European Union (EU), as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 53.
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(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
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(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
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Main statistical findings
Structural profile
The postal and courier services (Division 53) sector has been characterised by widespread changes that may be linked to the deregulation of markets that were previously dominated by national postal monopolies. Across the EU-27, there were 19.1 thousand postal and courier services enterprises in 2010. Together they employed 1.8 million persons, equivalent to 1.4 % of all persons employed in the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) and 18.0 % of those persons working in transportation and storage services (Section H). They generated EUR 59.3 billion of value added, which was equivalent to 1.0 % of the non-financial business economy total and 12.6 % of the transportation and storage services total.
The apparent labour productivity of the EU-27’s postal and courier services sector in 2010 was EUR 33.0 thousand per person employed, which was below both the non-financial business economy average of EUR 44.8 thousand per person employed and the transportation and storage services average of EUR 47.2 thousand per person employed. Average personnel costs per employee within the EU-27’s postal and courier services sector were slightly below average: EUR 28.2 thousand for postal and courier services compared with EUR 30.9 thousand for the non-financial business economy and EUR 32.2 thousand for all transportation and storage services.
The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio combines these two previous indicators and shows the extent to which value added per person employed covers average personnel costs per employee. Due to the relatively low levels of labour productivity and only slightly inferior average personnel costs, the EU-27’s postal and courier services sector had a lower than average wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio, standing at 117.2 % in 2010, compared with a non-financial business economy average of 144.8 % and a transportation and storage services average of 140.0 %.
The gross operating rate (the relation between the gross operating surplus and turnover) stood at 9.9 % for the EU-27’s postal and courier services sector in 2010, which was broadly in line with the non-financial business economy average (10.1 %), but noticeably less than the transportation and storage services average (13.6 %).
Sectoral analysis
Around 19 out of every 20 enterprises within the EU-27’s postal and courier services sector were classified within other postal and courier activities (Group 53.2), reflecting the deregulated market structure for this particular activity where internationally known enterprises compete against local competitors for the courier business. However, the postal activities under universal service obligation (Group 53.1) subsector remains a concentrated activity. It was also the largest of the two subsectors for nearly all measures other than for an enterprise count, with more than three fifths (60.6 %) of the sectoral workforce and nearly two thirds (65.2 %) of the added value generated in the EU-27’s postal and courier services sector in 2010.
EU-27 postal activities under universal service obligation recorded somewhat higher apparent labour productivity (EUR 35.5 thousand per person employed) in 2010 than that recorded for other postal and courier activities (EUR 29.2 thousand per person employed); both subsectors had apparent labour productivity ratios that were below the non-financial business economy and transportation and storage services averages. Average personnel costs for other postal and courier activities were EUR 23.4 thousand per employee, while for postal activities under universal service obligation they were, at EUR 31.1 thousand per employee, just above the non-financial business economy average (EUR 30.9 thousand per employee). The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for both subsectors were well below the non-financial business economy average (144.8 %) and the transportation and storage services average (140.0 %): 124.6 % for other postal and courier activities and 114.3 % for postal activities under universal service obligation.
For the gross operating rate, the rates reflected quite a similar level of performance in the two subsectors that compose the postal and courier services sector, as the other postal and courier activities subsector recorded an operating rate of 10.1 % across the EU-27 in 2010 (which was identical to the non-financial business economy average), while the corresponding rate for postal activities under universal service obligation was marginally lower (9.7 %).
Country analysis
Germany accounted for 20.4 % of the EU-27’s value added within the postal and courier services sector in 2010 and for a higher share (24.7 %) of the EU-27’s workforce. In value added terms, the next highest contributors were the United Kingdom (18.4 % of the EU-27 total), France (17.7 %) and Italy (13.8 %); none of the remaining Member States had a double-digit share. While Germany’s share of EU-27 value added in this sector was slightly lower than its average share (21.9 %) for the whole of the non-financial business economy, the reverse was true for the other three large Member States. Collectively 70.4 % of the EU-27 value added in the postal and courier services sector stemmed from the four largest Member States, compared with a 63.4 % share for the same four Member States in the EU-27’s non-financial business economy value added. Italy, France, the United Kingdom and Belgium were the most specialised Member States (in value added terms) in this sector in 2010, each generating 1.2 % of their non-financial business economy value added from postal and courier services. The least specialised Member States were Cyprus, Spain, Estonia and Lithuania, where just 0.5 % of non-financial business economy value added came from this sector.
The pattern of below average apparent labour productivity and only slightly inferior average personnel costs observed for the EU-27’s postal and courier services sector was repeated in most of the EU Member States in 2010, although Greece (2009 data) was the only Member State where average personnel costs per employee actually exceeded apparent labour productivity per person employed. Apart from Greece, wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for the postal and courier services sector ranged from 100.9 % in the Czech Republic to 132.4 % in Slovakia, with the Netherlands (143.8 %) and Cyprus (157.5 %) above this range. Cyprus and Italy were the only Member States (among those with data available) to record a wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for postal and courier services that was above their non-financial business economy average in 2010.
As for the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio, Cyprus (29.5 %) and the Netherlands (17.0 %) recorded the highest gross operating rates in the postal and courier services sector in 2010, followed closely by Italy (16.9 %). By far the lowest gross operating rates were registered in Lithuania (3.1 %) and France (2.5 %).
Size class analysis
The enterprise size structure of the EU-27’s postal and courier services sector is almost completely dominated by large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons). The 342 large enterprises classified to this sector provided 89.9 % of the value added and employed 88.2 % of the workforce in 2010. The employment and value added shares of large enterprises within the postal and courier services sector were the fourth highest shares in 2010 among all of the non-financial business economy NACE divisions; for comparison, the non-financial business economy average for large enterprise was 32.5 % of employment and 42.3 % of value added.
In 2010, large enterprises employed at least half of the postal and courier services workforce in all 11 the EU Member States for which data are available. The shares ranged from 55.1 % in Cyprus to more than 90.0 % in Romania, Italy and France. The three smaller size classes each employed 10.0 % or less of the workforce in nearly all of the Member States, the exceptions being a 36.6 % share for medium-sized enterprises (employing 50 to 249 persons) in Cyprus and 11.7 % and 11.4 % shares for micro enterprises (employing fewer than 10 persons) and small enterprises (employing 10 to 49 persons) in Spain. A broadly similar structure could be observed in value added terms, although the share of medium-sized enterprises exceeded one tenth in Cyprus, Lithuania and Bulgaria.
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 postal and courier services sector in the EU-27, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 53. This division includes postal and courier activities, such as pickup, transport and delivery of letters and parcels under various arrangements. Local delivery and messenger services are also included.
Postal activities under universal service obligation includes the services provided by universal service providers using the universal service infrastructure, including retail locations, sorting and processing facilities, and carrier routes to pick up and deliver the mail. The delivery can include letter-post, in other words letters, postcards, printed papers (newspapers, periodicals, advertising items, and so on), small packets, goods or documents. Also included are other services necessary to support the universal service obligation and the collection of letter-mail and parcels from public letter-boxes or from post offices.
Other postal and courier activities include all other such services falling outside of the scope of the universal service obligation; this also includes home delivery services.
This NACE division is composed of two groups:
- postal activities under universal service obligation (Group 53.1);
- other postal and courier activities (Group 53.2).
The information presented in this article excludes financial services activities (such as postal giro, postal savings activities and money order activities) as these form part of Division 64 covering financial service activities, except insurance and pension funding; note these activities are excluded from the coverage of the non-financial business economy.
See also
- Other analyses of the business economy by NACE Rev. 2 sector
- Structural business statistics introduced
- Transportation and storage
Further Eurostat information
Publications
- European business - facts and figures (online publication)
- Key figures on European Business – with a special feature section on SMEs – 2011 edition
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)
- Annual detailed enterprise statistics - services (sbs_na_serv)
- 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
- Decision 1578/2007/EC of 11 December 2007 on the Community Statistical Programme 2008 to 2012
- Regulation 295/2008 of 11 March 2008 concerning structural business statistics