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Archive:Computer programming and consultancy statistics - NACE Rev. 2

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This Statistics Explained article is outdated and has been archived - for recent articles on structural business statistics see here. This article presents an overview of statistics for the information technology services sector in the European Union (EU), including computer programming, consultancy, facilities management and software installation, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 62. These activities are referred to hereafter as computer programming and consultancy. It belongs to a set of statistical articles on 'Business economy by sector'

Table 1: Key indicators, computer programming, consultancy and related activities (NACE Division 62), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Figure 1: Sectoral analysis of computer programming, consultancy and related activities (NACE Division 62), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 2a: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, computer programming, consultancy and related activities (NACE Division 62), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 2b: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, computer programming, consultancy and related activities (NACE Division 62), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 3: Largest and most specialised Member States in computer programming, consultancy and related activities (NACE Division 62), EU-28, 2012 (¹) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 4a: Key indicators, computer programming, consultancy and related activities (NACE Division 62), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 4b: Key indicators, computer programming, consultancy and related activities (NACE Division 62), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 5: Key size class indicators, computer programming, consultancy and related activities (NACE Division 62), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Figure 2: Relative importance of enterprise size classes, computer programming, consultancy and related activities (NACE Division 62), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Table 6a: Employment by enterprise size class, computer programming, consultancy and related activities (NACE Division 62), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Table 6b: Value added by enterprise size class, computer programming, consultancy and related activities (NACE Division 62), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

There were approximately 570 thousand enterprises operating in the computer programming and consultancy (Division 62) sector in the EU-28 in 2012. The EU-28 computer programming and consultancy sector employed 2.8 million persons, equivalent to 2.1 % of the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) workforce or 47.0 % of those employed in information and communication services (Section J). They generated EUR 202.0 billion of value added, which was 3.3 % of the non-financial business economy total or 39.1 % of the information and communication services total.

The apparent labour productivity of the EU-28’s computer programming and consultancy sector in 2012 was EUR 70.0 thousand per person employed, which was higher than the non-financial business economy average of EUR 46.2 thousand per person employed, but below the information and communication services average of EUR 87.0 thousand per person employed. By contrast, average personnel costs within the EU-28’s computer programming and consultancy sector were particularly high: at EUR 56.0 thousand per employee they exceeded the level recorded for the non-financial business economy (EUR 32.4 thousand per employee) as well as for information and communication services (EUR 51.7 thousand per employee). As a result of these relatively high average personnel costs — the seventh highest among any of the NACE divisions that constitute the non-financial business economy — the EU-28’s wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio which combines the two previous indicators stood at 128.0 % for the computer programming and consultancy sector in 2011. This was well below the non-financial business economy average of 142.7 % and even further removed from the information and communication services average of 168.0 %.

The gross operating rate (the relation between the gross operating surplus and turnover) — which is a measure of operating profitability — stood at 14.9 % for the EU-28’s computer programming and consultancy sector in 2012. This was almost 1.6 times as high as the non-financial business economy average (9.4 %), but below the information and communication services average (20.3 %).

Sectoral analysis

There are four subsectors that constitute the computer programming and consultancy sector (when broken down at the NACE class level of detail). Among these, computer consultancy (Class 62.02) and computer programming (Class 62.01) were by far the largest in the EU-28 in 2012: together these two subsectors accounted for 77.2 % of sectoral value added and 78.9 % of the sectoral workforce. Other information technology and computer service activities (Class 62.09) accounted for a 15.9 % share of value added and a 16.0 % share of the sectoral workforce, leaving computer facilities management (Class 62.03) to account for the remainder (less than 7.0 % of sectoral value added and the sectoral workforce).

EU-28 apparent labour productivity among the three out of four subsectors that constitute the computer programming and consultancy sector was generally quite high and also quite uniform in 2012, ranging from EUR 69.0 thousand per person employed for computer programming activities to EUR 72.0 thousand per person employed for computer consultancy activities and other information technology and computer service activities; data for computer facilities management are not available.

The distribution of average personnel costs followed a similar pattern, as the magnitude of the differences between the four subsectors was also relatively modest. EU-28 average personnel costs in 2012 ranged from EUR 53.1 thousand per employee for other information technology and computer service activities up to a high of EUR 60.0 thousand per employee for computer facilities management.

This relatively uniform pattern between subsectors was repeated for the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio, as this indicator ranged from 122.0 % for EU-28 computer consultancy activities up to a high of 135.0 % for other information technology and computer service activities in 2012. As such, all four subsectors recorded wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios that were below the average for the whole of the non-financial business economy (142.7 %).

By contrast, each of the four subsectors within the computer programming and consultancy sector recorded a gross operating rate for the EU-28 in 2012 that was above the non-financial business economy average (9.4 %). These rates ranged from a high of 17.1 % for computer programming activities down to 11.8 % for computer facilities management activities.

Country analysis

The United Kingdom recorded the highest share (24.0 %) of EU-28 value added within the computer programming and consultancy sector in 2012; this pattern was repeated in three of the six NACE divisions that constitute information and communication services. At a more detailed level, the United Kingdom had the largest share of EU-28 value added for computer consultancy activities (31.0 % of the EU-28 total) and for other information technology and computer service activities (38.7 %). Germany recorded the highest share of EU-28 value added for computer programming activities (28.1 %) and France for computer facilities management (31.6 %).

The dominance of the United Kingdom was reinforced when analysing the relative specialisation of the EU Member States through the value added contribution of an activity to the non-financial business economy. The United Kingdom was the most specialised Member State for computer programming and consultancy, as this sector contributed 4.7 % of non-financial business economy value added in 2012. Other Member States that were relatively specialised included Finland and Sweden, where the computer programming and consultancy sector provided at least 4.0 % of non-financial business economy value added in 2012. There were six Member States where the relative weight of the computer programming and consultancy sector was less than or equal to 2.0% of national non-financial business economy value added; these were Cyprus, Croatia, Lithuania, Austria, Poland and Greece (where the lowest share was recorded, at 0.9 %). The relative weight of the computer programming and consultancy sector was also relatively low in Norway (2.0 %) while in Switzerland the share of this sector in the non-financial business economy (2.9 %) was closer to the EU-28 average (3.3 %).

Apparent labour productivity for the computer programming and consultancy sector was consistently higher than for national non-financial business economy averages across each of the EU Member States for which data are available for 2012. In the United Kingdom and in Germany, the computer programming and consultancy sector recorded apparent labour productivity that was EUR 39.0 thousand and EUR 31.5 thousand per person employed higher than national averages for the non-financial business economy. The apparent labour productivity of the computer programming and consultancy sectors in Bulgaria and Malta was more than twice as high as the non-financial business economy averages.

However, average personnel costs within the computer programming and consultancy sector were also consistently higher than the non-financial business economy average for all EU Member States. Furthermore, they were generally proportionally higher than for apparent labour productivity and as a result, the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for the computer programming and consultancy sector were generally low. Indeed, Malta, Cyprus, Greece and Italy were the only EU Member States (for which data are available) to report that their wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for the computer programming and consultancy sector were higher than the averages for the whole of the non-financial business economy. Wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios ranged, in 2012, from a high of 185.0 % in Cyprus down to lows of less than 110.0 % in Austria, France, Belgium and Sweden; the Maltese rate was 286.7 % in 2011 (no data available for 2012).

There was a greater diversity in the spread of gross operating rates for the computer programming and consultancy sector across the EU Member States in 2012. This measure of operating profitability ranged from a high of 25.0 % in Cyprus and upwards of 20 % in the United Kingdom and Greece, to less than 10.0 % in Portugal, France, Luxembourg and Sweden; the Maltese rate was 32.6 % in 2011 (no data available for 2012).

Size class analysis

Large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons) accounted for more than one third (34.2 %) of the EU-28’s workforce within the computer programming and consultancy sector in 2012. There were approximately one thousand large enterprises operating within the computer programming and consultancy sector and collectively they generated EUR 86.9 billion of value added, equivalent to 43.0 % of the sectoral total.

Across the EU Member States, large enterprises generally recorded the highest share of value added within the computer programming and consultancy sector in 2012. Among those Member States for which data are available, this pattern was broken in Romania and Austria, where medium-sized enterprises (employing 50 to 249 persons) accounted for the highest proportion of sectoral added value. In Estonia (2011 data) and Croatia, the highest share of value added within the computer programming and consultancy sector was recorded for small enterprises (employing 10 to 49 persons); the same was true for Switzerland. Malta was the only EU Member State where micro enterprises (employing fewer than 10 persons) accounted for the highest proportion of sectoral added value; their share in 2011 stood at 48.2 %.

Large enterprises also recorded the highest apparent labour productivity among the four enterprise size classes that are distinguished within Figure 2. Using this measure, productivity reached EUR 90.6 thousand per person employed for large enterprises within the EU-28’s computer programming and consultancy sector in 2012, which was almost double the apparent labour productivity of micro enterprises. Micro enterprises recorded the lowest apparent labour productivity with the computer programming and consultancy sector, at EUR 48.8 thousand per person employed. These enterprises had the second highest share of the computer programming and consultancy sector’s workforce, at over one quarter (27.9 %) of the sectoral total, while they generated 18.9 % of sectoral value added, which was almost the same as the share (18.5 %) recorded for small enterprises.

While Germany and the United Kingdom generally report a relatively high degree of their economic activity concentrated within large enterprises, there was an atypical pattern for the computer programming and consultancy sector. The relative importance of large enterprises within the computer programming and consultancy sector’s workforce in 2012 was higher in France, Spain and Italy — where small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs, employing fewer than 250 persons) traditionally play a more prominent role — than in either Germany or the United Kingdom. Large enterprises accounted for their highest proportion of the computer programming and consultancy sector’s workforce in France (48.8 %), while their share was almost as high in Spain (48.2 %). By contrast, large enterprises accounted for just 7.7 % of the sectoral workforce in Croatia, for 14.9 % in Estonia (in 2011) and for 15.6 % of the total in Austria; there were no large enterprises active in the computer programming and consultancy in Malta.

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 computer programming and consultancy sector in the EU, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 62. This division includes the provision of expertise in the field of information technologies.

Computer programming activities include writing, modifying, testing, documenting and supporting software development. Information technology consultancy activities include the analysis of users’ needs and problems, as well as the planning and designing of computer systems. The units classified in this activity may provide the hardware and software components of the system as part of their integrated services or these components may be provided by third parties or vendors. The units classified to this activity often install the system and train and support the users of the system. Computer facilities management activities include the provision of on-site management and operation of clients’ computer systems and/or data processing facilities, as well as related support services. Other information technology service activities include computer disaster recovery services and software installation services.

This NACE division is composed of four classes organised into one group:

  • computer programming activities (Class 62.01);
  • computer consultancy activities (Class 62.02);
  • computer facilities management activities (Class 62.03);
  • other information technology and computer service activities (Class 62.09).

Data processing and hosting is excluded (Division 63, part of information service activities).

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

SBS – services (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, figures and maps (MS Excel)

Other information

External links

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