Two individuals, one holding a bucket of cleaning products while the other person is mopping the floor.

In 2020, nearly 3 million persons in the EU were employed in general cleaning of buildings across 220 thousand enterprises.

Overall, the number of persons employed in general cleaning of buildings made up 2.3% of the number of persons employed in the non-financial business economy in the EU. This ranks the number of persons employed in the branch 'general cleaning of buildings' fourth, preceded only by 'restaurants and mobile food service activities', 'freight transport by road' and 'temporary employment agency activities'.

The highest shares of persons employed in the general cleaning of buildings branch were recorded in Belgium (3.9%), Spain (3.8%), France (3.4%) and Luxembourg (3.1%).

In contrast, Bulgaria (0.2%), Romania, Slovakia, and Poland (all 0.6%) recorded the lowest shares.

General cleaning of buildings in the EU, 2020

Source datasets: sbs_na_1a_se_r2 (cleaning activities) and sbs_na_sca_r2 (total)

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Methodological notes

  • Data not available for Czechia and Estonia.
  • ‘General cleaning of buildings’ activities includes general (non-specialized) cleaning of all types of buildings, such as offices, houses or apartments, factories, shops and institutions, as well as general (non-specialized) cleaning of other business and professional premises and multiunit residential buildings. These activities are mostly interior cleaning although they may include the cleaning of associated exterior areas such as windows or passageways. This class excludes specialised cleaning activities, such as window cleaning, chimney cleaning, cleaning of fireplaces, stoves, furnaces, incinerators, boilers, ventilation ducts or exhaust units.
     

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