Archive:Instrument engineering statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1
This Statistics Explained article is outdated and has been archived - for recent articles on structural business statistics see here.
- Data from January 2009. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
This article belongs to a set of statistical articles which analyse the structure, development and characteristics of the various economic activities in the European Union (EU). According to the statistical classification of economic activities in the EU (NACE Rev 1.1), the present article covers instrument engineering, corresponding to NACE Division 33, which is part of the electrical machinery and optical equipment sector. The activities covered in this article are the manufacture of:
- instruments;
- industrial process control equipment;
- watches;
- clocks;
- photographic equipment.
It does not include photo-chemical products, flashbulbs or television cameras.
_Structural_profile,_EU-27,_2006.PNG)
Main statistical findings
Structural profile
_Structural_profile,_2006.PNG)
_Index_of_production,_EU-27_(2000%3D100).PNG)
_Production_of_selected_products,_EU-27,_2007_(1).PNG)
_Expenditure,_productivity_and_profi_tability,_EU-27,_2006.PNG)
_Main_indicators,_2006_(1).PNG)
Almost three tenths (29.6 %) of the value added generated within the electrical machinery and optical equipment (NACE Subsection DL) sector in the EU-27 in 2006 came from instrument engineering (NACE Division 33). There were and estimated 92.0 thousand enterprises in the EU-27’s instrument engineering sector in 2006, employing just over one million persons. In relative terms, these enterprises accounted for close to half (45.4 %) of the total number of enterprises within the electrical machinery and optical equipment sector, suggesting that the size of instrument engineering enterprises was well below the average.
The manufacture of instruments and appliances for measuring, checking, testing, navigating and other purposes, except industrial process control equipment (NACE Group 33.2) and the manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances (NACE Group 33.1) together accounted for more than three quarters of the enterprises, turnover, value added or employment in the EU-27’s instrument engineering sector. There were, however, some considerable differences between these two subsectors, as almost two thirds (64.1 %) of instrument engineering enterprises in 2006 were classified as producing medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances, while the manufacture of instruments and appliances for measuring, checking, testing, navigating and other purposes accounted for less than one fifth (17.8 %). In value added terms, their relative importance was similar, with the manufacture of medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances accounting for a 38.2 % share in 2006, while the corresponding share for the manufacture of instruments and appliances for measuring, checking, testing, navigating and other purposes was 40.4 % in 2005. Of the three remaining subsectors, the only other activity to record a double digit share of EU-27 instrument engineering value added in 2006 was the manufacture of optical instruments and photographic equipment (11.4 %); industrial process control equipment accounted for a 7.9 % share, while the manufacture of watches and clocks was particularly small (1.0 %).
The EU-27’s instrument engineering sector was dominated by Germany, where value added in 2006 reached EUR 20.1 billion or one third (33.5 %) of the EU-27 total. This was well above the next highest levels of value added recorded in France and the United Kingdom (14.1 % and 13.9 % respectively of the EU-27 total). The instrument engineering sector in Germany accounted for 1.7 % of German non-financial business economy value added, the second highest proportion among the Member States, behind Ireland (3.1 %).
The production index for instrument engineering in the EU-27 followed a fairly smooth upward development during the period from 1997 to 2007, with a slowdown in activity (albeit with positive rates) in 2002 and 2003. Average growth of 3.5 % per year was recorded for the output of instrument engineering during the ten years to 2007, which was slower than the corresponding rate for electrical machinery and optical equipment manufacturing (4.5 % per year). Among the NACE groups covered by this article, the fastest expansion in activity was recorded for medical and surgical equipment and orthopaedic appliances manufacturing, where average growth of 4.7 % per year was registered. Three of the four remaining activities reported average growth of between 2 % and 3 % per year, while the manufacture of watches and clocks registered a fall in production, on average by 3.9 % per year.
Expenditure and productivity
The EU-27's instrument engineering sector recorded gross tangible investment valued at approximately EUR 4.4 billion in 2006, some 0.4 % of the total for the non-financial business economy. The investment rate (calculated as the ratio of investment to value added) was particularly low (7.3 %) for the EU-27’s instrument engineering manufacturing sector in 2006; this was the lowest rate among any of the NACE divisions within the non-financial business economy for which data are available for 2005 or 2006.
Personnel costs accounted for a high proportion (30.8 %) of operating expenditure in the EU-27's instrument engineering sector in 2006. This was approximately 50% more than the electrical machinery and optical equipment average (20.6 %). This pattern was repeated across all five subsectors that make up instrument engineering, as the relative importance of personnel costs in operating expenditure ranged from 28.6 % to 30.7 %.
While personnel costs accounted for a high proportion of operating expenditure, this could to some extent be explained by relatively high average personnel costs per employee, which stood at EUR 41.5 thousand in the EU-27’s instrument engineering sector in 2006, almost 50 % above the non-financial business economy average (EUR 28.8 thousand per employee). The apparent labour productivity (EUR 57.6 thousand per person employed) of those working in the instrument engineering sector was about a third higher than the non-financial business economy average (EUR 43.5 thousand). Combining these two ratios, the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of the EU-27’s instrument engineering sector stood at 138.8 %, somewhat below the non-financial business economy average (151.5 %).
Among the Member States for which data are available[1], the apparent labour productivity of the instrument engineering sector was highest in Ireland (EUR 107.3 thousand per person employed) in 2006. Ireland also featured among a group of Member States that reported labour productivity within the instrument engineering sector at least 20 % above the national non-financial business economy average – the other countries were Denmark, Italy, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as Greece and Romania (both 2005). Ireland and Greece (2005) also reported the highest gross operating rates within the instrument engineering sector, with rates close to 30 %, while Latvia was the only other country (additionally no information for the Czech Republic) to record a gross operating rate in excess of 20 %.
Data sources and availability
The main part of the analysis in this article is derived from structural business statistics (SBS), including core, business statistics which are disseminated regularly, as well as information compiled on a multi-yearly basis, and the latest results from development projects.
Other data sources include short-term statistics (STS) and the PRODCOM statistics on the production of manufactured goods.
Context
The electrical machinery and optical equipment sector is an important and strategic part of Europe’s manufacturing sector, producing a wide range of mostly high-technology products (for example, computers, switchgears or semi-conductors). This sector has been cited as being at the centre of industrial development, as almost every other sector depends, at least to some degree, on the capital equipment, technology, end-products, research and innovations that are provided by the electrical machinery and optical equipment sector. It is therefore often referred to as one of the main drivers of productivity gains and central to the EU’s objective of creating more and better jobs.
The goods and services made within the electrical machinery and optical equipment sector range from capital goods used in energy and primary transformation activities, transport manufacturing (motor vehicles, aeronautics and rail equipment producers) or process manufacturing sectors (agro-industries, chemicals, plastics or wood), through intermediate goods (such as electronic components or wiring) that are often used by other manufacturers, to consumer goods (such as consumer electronics, mobile phones and household appliances).
This sector operates within a long-established legislative framework that covers issues such as product safety, energy labelling, minimum efficiency requirements, eco-design and waste.
Two Directives (2008/34 and 2008/35) on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment were introduced in 2008. The EU aims to take measures to prevent the generation of electrical and electronic waste and to promote reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery in order to reduce the quantity of such waste by encouraging manufacturers to design products with the environmental impacts in mind throughout their entire life cycle.
The potential role that may be played by the electrical machinery and optical equipment sector with respect to energy efficiency has also been highlighted in recent years. Indeed, considerable effort has gone into reducing the energy consumption of appliances, although changes in lifestyle and working practices have sometimes offset these, for example, while changes to the manufacture of domestic and office appliances has made these more energy efficient, rising equipment rates and the introduction of new technologies may result in higher overall energy consumption. Several directives cover this area of energy saving, in particular a Directive on eco-design requirements for energy-using products, a Directive on the energy labelling of domestic appliances and a Regulation on the energy efficiency labelling programme for office equipment.
Medical instruments manufacturing is one of the largest subsectors of the instrument engineering sector and may be expected to continue growing in the coming years as a result of Europe’s slowly ageing society leading to increased demand, while scientific breakthroughs translate into new products, more complex treatments, and new ways of curing certain conditions. However, with pressure on budgets, many healthcare providers are trying to reduce the length of hospital stays and promote homecare treatment, while at the same time healthcare policy increasingly stresses prevention-orientated, consumer-driven healthcare models. Medical devices are regulated by three main Directives (90/385, 93/42 and 98/79) that cover active implantable medical devices, medical devices and in vitro diagnostic medical devices, while similar legislation exists for other subsectors, such as Directive 2004/22 on measuring instruments.
Further Eurostat information
Publications
Main tables
Database
Dedicated section
Further information
- Directive 2008/34 of 11 March 2008 amending Directive 2002/96 on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission
- Directive 2008/35 of 11 March 2008 amending Directive 2002/95 on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment as regards the implementing powers conferred on the Commission
- Directive 90/385 of 20 June 1990] on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to active implantable medical devices
- Directive 93/42 of 14 June 1993 concerning medical devices
- Directive 98/79 of 27 October 1998 on in vitro diagnostic medical devices
- Directive 2004/22 of 31 March 2004 on measuring instruments
See also
Notes
- ↑ Greece, Poland and Portugal, 2005; Malta and the Netherlands, not available.