Archive:Postal and courier services statistics - NACE Rev. 2
- Data from April 2012. 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_ind_r2)
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Main statistical findings
Structural profile
The postal and courier services (Division 53) sector is one 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 an estimated 50 thousand postal and courier services enterprises in 2009. Together they employed 1.8 million persons, equivalent to 1.3 % of all persons employed in the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) and 17.0 % of those persons working in the whole of transportation and storage services (Section H). They generated EUR 59 691 million of value added which was 1.1 % of the non-financial business economy total and 13.7 % of the transportation and storage added value.
The apparent labour productivity of the EU-27's postal and courier services sector in 2009 was EUR 33 thousand per person employed, which was below both the non-financial business economy average of EUR 41.6 thousand per person employed and the transportation and storage average of EUR 41 thousand per person employed. Average personnel costs per employee within the EU-27’s postal and courier services sector were slightly below average: EUR 28.5 thousand for postal and courier services compared with EUR 30.0 thousand for the non-financial business economy and EUR 31.2 thousand for 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 116.4 % in 2009, compared with a non-financial business economy average of 138.8 % and a transportation and storage average of 132.1 %.
The gross operating rate (the relation between the gross operating surplus and turnover) stood at 10.3 % for the EU-27’s postal and courier services sector in 2009, which was some 0.6 percentage points above the non-financial business economy average (9.7 %), but lower than the transportation and storage average (12.2 %).
Sectoral analysis
Around nine out of every ten 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 larger activity (other than for an enterprise count), with more than three fifths (62.6 %) of the sectoral workforce and nearly two thirds (65.7 %) of the added value generated in the EU-27’s postal and courier services sector in 2009.
EU-27 postal activities under universal service obligation recorded somewhat higher apparent labour productivity (EUR 35 thousand per person employed) in 2009 than that recorded for other postal and courier activities (EUR 30 thousand per person employed); both subsectors had apparent labour productivity ratios that were below the non-financial business economy average or the transportation and storage average. Average personnel costs peaked at EUR 30.8 thousand for EU-27 postal activities under universal service obligation, while the corresponding value for other postal and courier activities was EUR 6.4 thousand per employee lower. The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio shows that apparent labour productivity exceeded average personnel costs within the other postal and courier activities subsector (wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of 124.5 %), while for postal activities under universal service obligation the corresponding rate was 113.1 %; both of these ratios were below the non-financial business economy average (138.8 %) and the transportation and storage average (132.1 %).
For the gross operating rate, the latest rates available for 2009 also 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 11.6 % across the EU-27, while the corresponding rate for postal activities under universal service obligation was 9.2 %; the two rates were situated either side of the non-financial business economy average (9.7 %).
Country analysis
Germany accounted for 23.3 % of the EU-27’s value added within the postal and courier services sector in 2009 and for a slightly higher share (24.7 %) of the EU-27’s workforce. In value added terms, the next highest contributors were the United Kingdom (15.6 % of the EU-27 total) and Italy (13.6 %); none of the remaining Member States had a double-digit share.
The pattern of below average apparent labour productivity and somewhat higher average personnel costs observed for the EU-27’s postal and courier services sector was repeated in most Member States in 2009. The highest level of apparent labour productivity was recorded in Ireland (EUR 51.6 thousand per person employed), while Italy, Austria, Belgium and Denmark (2008) were the only other Member States to record apparent labour productivity over EUR 40 thousand per person employed. Ireland also registered the highest level of average personnel costs (EUR 51.1 thousand per employee). Combining these two indicators, the resulting wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio ranged from a relatively modest 144.0 % in the Netherlands and 137.1 % in Slovakia, down to less than 100 % in the Czech Republic and Lithuania.
The gross operating rate of the postal and courier services sector was also highest in the Netherlands (16.8 % in 2009), closely followed by Italy (16.6 %). Almost half of the Member States for which data are available reported a gross operating rate for the postal and courier services sector that was in single figures. The lowest rate was registered in Lithuania (-8.1 %), as a result of total personnel costs being higher than the value added that was generated within the postal and courier services sector.
Data sources and availability
The analysis presented in this article is based on the main dataset for structural business statistics (SBS) which are disseminated annually. The series provides information for each 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.
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 pickup 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 non-financial business economy aggregate.
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)
- Preliminary results on services, main indicators (NACE Rev.2) (sbs_sc_r2preli)
- SMEs - Annual enterprise statistics broken down by size classes - services (sbs_sc_sc)
- Services broken down by employment size classes (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, figures and maps (MS Excel)
Other information
- Regulation 58/1997 of 20 December 1996 concerning structural business statistics
- Decision 2367/2002/EC of 16 December 2002 on the Community statistical programme 2003 to 2007
- Regulation 295/2008 of 11 March 2008 concerning structural business statistics