Archive:Computer and information services statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1

Data from December 2008 and January 2009, most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article presents the European Union (EU) structural business statistics for NACE Division 72, 'Computer and related activities', which consists of:

consultancy activities for hardware or software;
data processing activities;
database activities;
the maintenance and repair of office and information technology machinery.

Although the repair of computers is included in this list, neither their actual manufacture (NACE Class 30.02) nor their wholesaling, retailing, or renting (NACE Classes 51.84, 52.48 and 71.33) are covered here.

Graph 1: Computer and related activities (NACE Division 72), Share of business enterprise research and development expenditure, 2006 (%) (1)

Main statistical findings

Graph 2: Computer services (NACE Division 72), Breakdown of turnover in computing services by activity, average, 2005 (%) (1)

Table 1: Computer and related activities (NACE Division 72), 2006

Computer and related activities are at the forefront of the information society along with telecommunications. Computer and related activities have one of the highest levels of expenditure on research and development among services. An average from the 22 Member States for which data are available shows a 5.5 % share for computer and related activities, a substantial share bearing in mind that manufacturing activities account for 78.5 % of the total.

It is quite common for enterprises to outsource their requirements for hardware, software and data processing services to specialist providers. The ability of such services to be traded across borders has been assisted by improved telecommunications.

Structural profile

The EU’s computer and related activities (NACE Division 72) sector generated EUR 180.4 billion of value added from EUR 369.8 billion of turnover in 2006, therefore contributing around one fifth of business services (NACE Divisions 72 and 74) output. The computer and related activities workforce comprised 2.8 million persons, one eighth (12.6 %) of the business services total, working in just over half a million enterprises.

An analysis of the breakdown of turnover in computer and related activities is available for a subset of Member States, based on the data from a development project compiled on a voluntary basis. The results show that software consultancy and supply (NACE Group 72.2) generated the largest share (68 %) of the sector’s turnover, followed by data processing services (NACE Group 72.3, 13 %).

The United Kingdom had by far the largest computer and related activities sector within the EU in 2006, providing about three tenths of the EU’s value added and one fifth of the employment total. By the same two measures Germany had the next largest computer and related activities workforce, significantly smaller than in the United Kingdom. Given its extremely high share of EU value added in 2006, the United Kingdom was the most specialised Member State within computer and related activities, as this sector contributed 4.9 % of non-financial business economy (NACE Sections C to I and K) value added in the United Kingdom. The next most specialised Member States included Ireland and the three Nordic Member States, which all generated at least 3.5 % of their non-financial business economy value added in this sector. By the same measure the least specialized Member States in computer and related activities were Cyprus and Bulgaria (both 2005), Greece and the Baltic Member States that all generated 1.5 % or less of their non-financial business economy value added in this sector.

Expenditure and productivity

Apparent labour productivity in the EU’s computer and related activities sector was EUR 64.7 thousand per person employed in 2006 and average personnel costs were EUR 51.1 thousand per employee. In several other respects the EU-27’s computer and related activities sector was typical of business services, with a wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio (126.5 %) and share of personnel costs in operating expenditure (39.0 %) both just below the business services averages.

Computer and related activities accounted for one fifth of gross tangible investment in EU business services in 2006, valued at EUR 13.4 billion. The resulting investment rate was 7.4 %, typical for a business services activity, and as such around two fifths of the non-financial business economy average.

Data sources and availability

Context

Further Eurostat information

Publications

European Business - Facts and figures

Dedicated section

Structural business statistics

Other information

Directive 2006/123/EC of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market

External links

European Commission - Enterprise and Industry - Information and communication technologies