Statistics Explained

Archive:Media and communications statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1

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This article introduces a set of statistical articles which analyse the structure, development and characteristics of the economic activities in the media and communications sector in the European Union (EU). According to the statistical classification of economic activities in the EU (NACE Rev 1.1), this sector covers NACE Divisions 22 and 64. It focuses on activities whose principal characteristic is to provide services related to the exchange of information. It includes the industrial activities of publishing, printing, and the reproduction of recorded media (NACE Division 22), as well as postal, courier and telecommunication services (NACE Division 64). Its activities are treated in more depth in four further articles:

Table 1: Media and communications (NACE Divisions 22 and 64). Structural profile, EU-27, 2006 (1)
Figure 1: Media and communications (NACE Divisions 22 and 64). Share of media and communications, EU-27, 2006 (%) (1)
Table 2: Media and communications (NACE Divisions 22 and 64). Structural profile: ranking of top five Member States, 2006
Map 1: Media and communications (NACE Divisions 22 and 64). Persons employed in media and communications (NACE Divisions 22 and 64) as a proportion of those employed in the non-financial business economy (NACE Sections C to I and K) (%)
Figure 2: Media and communications (NACE Divisions 22 and 64). Evolution of main indicators, EU-27 (2000=100)
Table 3: Media and communications (NACE Divisions 22 and 64). Share of value added and persons employed by enterprise size class, EU-27, 2006 (%)
Figure 3: Media and communications (NACE Divisions 22 and 64). Share of employment by enterprise size class, EU-27, 2006
Figure 4: Media and communications (NACE Divisions 22 and 64). Employment characteristics, 2007
Table 4: Media and communications (NACE Divisions 22 and 64). Expenditure, productivity and profitability, EU-27, 2006 (1)
Figure 5: Media and communications (NACE Divisions 22 and 64). Investment rate, EU-27, 2006
Table 5: Publishing, printing, reproduction of recorded media (NACE Division 22). Main indicators, 2006 (1)
Table 6: Post and telecommunications (NACE Division 64). Main indicators, 2006 (1)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

There were 293.2 thousand enterprises in the EU-27's media and communications (NACE Divisions 22 and 64) sector in 2006, which together employed 4.9 million persons. Paid employees accounted for 95.0 % of the workforce in 2006, a working status that was dominant when compared with the equivalent share for the non-financial business economy average (86.5 %, NACE Sections C to I and K). The share of paid employees was particularly high in the post and telecommunications activities (NACE Division 64) and publishing (NACE Group 22.1), indicating a very low share of working proprietors and unpaid family workers in these activities, unsurprising given the dominance of very large enterprises. The enterprises in the media and communications sector generated EUR 792.3 billion of turnover resulting in EUR 349.7 billion of value added. Apparent labour productivity was high in these activities as they accounted for 6.2 % of total value added in the non-financial business economy but just 3.7 % of employment.

With EUR 200 billion of value added, telecommunications (NACE Group 64.2) was the largest media and communications subsector in 2006, accounting for over half (57.2 %) of the total, followed by post and courier activities (NACE Group 64.1) with a 17.2 % share. The two smaller subsectors, publishing (NACE Group 22.1), as well as printing and reproduction of recorded media (NACE Groups 22.2 and 22.3) each contributed around 14 %. In employment terms the situation was very different. Post and courier activities had the largest workforce, close to two fifths (38.4 %, 2005) of the media and communications total, more than double its value added share. Printing and the reproduction of recorded media also had a higher share of this sector's workforce, as did publishing to a lesser extent. Consequently, the telecommunications workforce accounted for just one quarter of the sectoral total in 2005, approximately half of the share this subsector recorded in terms of value added.

Germany and the United Kingdom were the largest Member States in the media and communications sector in 2006, both accounting for around one fifth of the EU-27’s value added. In employment terms, Germany's share was slightly larger, while that of the United Kingdom was significantly smaller. Looking at the contribution of this sector within the non-financial business economy, the most specialised Member State [1] in value added terms was Bulgaria (2005), where media and communications activities contributed just over one tenth of non-financial business economy value added; in fact this sector was the second largest sector (in terms of all the structural business statistics sectors) in Bulgaria. The sector was quite important in all Member States, as even in Austria, the least specialised Member State in 2006, it accounted for 4.6 % of non-financial business economy value added.

The regional specialisation of these activities is shown in the map which is based on the non-financial business economy employment share of this sector. Countries with many regions specialised in these activities include the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, the Nordic countries and Slovakia. These activities were often particularly centred in or around the capital, with the capital region in 15 of the 18 multi-regional Member States (with data available) being among the most specialised regions (more than 4 % of the workforce in this activity). The main exception to this was Germany, as the capital region of Berlin was not particularly specialised in media and communications; in another German region however, Köln, this sector accounted for 25.3 % of non-financial business economy employment, making this the single most specialised region in media and communications among all of the regions in the EU.

Annualised short-term statistics are available for the EU-27 starting in 1998 (employment) and 2000 (turnover) for the services activities of post and telecommunications, while a longer series is available for the industrial activity of publishing, printing, and the reproduction of recorded media (NACE Division 22). Looking first at turnover, post and courier activities (NACE Group 64.1) and telecommunications (NACE Group 64.2) both developed strongly since 2000, averaging growth of 4.1 % per year for post and courier activities up to 2007 and 6.1 % per year for telecommunications in the EU-27. In contrast, the turnover index for publishing, printing, and the reproduction of recorded media grew on average by 1.8 % per year over the same period, only exceeding this average on two occasions, 2004 (4.1 %) and 2006 (2.9 %).

In employment terms, two phases of development could be observed for post and telecommunications as well as for publishing, printing, and the reproduction of recorded media: both activities showed a period of growth until 2001, followed by a reduction in employment levels. Between 2001 and 2007, the average annual fall for the employment index for publishing, printing, and the reproduction of recorded media was -1.6 %, while for post and telecommunications it was -2.1 %. As such, post and telecommunications was one of only two services sectors (along with air transport) that recorded a reduction in employment during this period.

Large enterprises (with 250 and more persons employed) were predominant in the EU-27's media and communications sector as they contributed more than three quarters of total value added generated in this sector in 2006 and occupied close to two thirds of the workforce. Post and telecommunications was dominated by large enterprises, as these accounted for 92.4 % of sectoral value added in the EU-27. This was the highest proportion of value added accounted for by large enterprises across all non-financial services (NACE Sections G to I and K) NACE divisions [2] in 2006. In contrast, the value added share of large enterprises in publishing, printing and the reproduction of recorded media was 41.2 %, marginally below the non-financial business economy average. The share of value added generated by micro enterprises (with less than 10 persons employed) in publishing, printing and the reproduction of recorded media (14.6 %) was also below the non-financial business economy average (21.0 %, 2005). As a result, small enterprises (with between 10 and 49 persons employed), and particularly medium-sized enterprises (with between 50 and 249 persons employed) made a relatively high contribution within the publishing, printing and the reproduction of recorded media activities.

Employment characteristics

Labour force statistics show that the characteristics of the workforce in the EU-27's media and communications sector (NACE Divisions 22 and 64) did not diverge greatly from those for the non-financial business economy as a whole. Indeed, about three fifths (60.6 %) of the sectoral workforce were men in 2007, a proportion slightly lower than that for the non-financial business economy as a whole (64.9 %). The proportion of part-time employment in the sector was 17.0 % in 2007, compared with 14.4 % for the non-financial business economy. A breakdown by age of the workforce for the EU-27’s media and communications sector shows that younger workers (aged 15 to 29) accounted for a lower proportion of the workforce than in the non-financial business economy as a whole, with slightly higher proportions for the two other age groups.

Expenditure, productivity and profitability

In 2006, the EU-27 media and communications sector undertook tangible investments to the value of EUR 57.7 billion, equivalent to 5.6 % of the total for the non-financial business economy. As this was slightly lower than the sector's share of value added, the investment rate for media and communications (16.5 %) was below the non-financial business economy average (18.4 %). The vast majority of this investment was recorded for telecommunications, which consequently had the highest investment rate (24.3 %, 2005). Post and courier activities as well as publishing both recorded particularly low investment rates – these being the fifth and seventh lowest rates among all NACE divisions in the non-financial business economy (with data available for 2005 or 2006). Romania, Cyprus (both 2005) and the United Kingdom were the only Member States [3] where the investment rate for media and communications was higher than the non-financial business economy average.

The share of personnel costs in operating expenditure was also considerably higher for the EU-27's media and communications sector (27.1 %) than for the non-financial business economy as a whole (16.1 %). This was the case in all of the subsectors that make up the media and communications sector, where the share of total expenditure dedicated to personnel costs was lowest at 19.9 % (2005) for telecommunications and reached as high as 53.9 % (2005) for post and courier activities, the fourth highest share among all NACE groups within the non-financial business economy (in 2005 or 2006). This high share of personnel costs for media and communications was observed in all the Member States with data available. Average personnel costs in the EU-27's media and communications sector were EUR 36.9 thousand per employee, which was EUR 8.1 thousand per employee higher than the non-financial business economy average. The only subsector with average personnel costs below the non-financial business economy average was post and courier activities, while the EUR 51.5 thousand per employee average for telecommunications was the highest among the non-financial services (NACE Sections G to I and K) NACE groups.

Apparent labour productivity in the EU-27’s media and communications sector was EUR 72.0 thousand per person employed in 2006, which was nearly two thirds higher than the non-financial business economy average. Underlying this was a particularly high apparent labour productivity in the telecommunications subsector – the fourth highest among all non-financial business economy NACE groups in 2005 or 2006 – as well as a high productivity in publishing. In contrast, the post and courier activities subsector recorded apparent labour productivity below the non-financial business economy average in 2005.

The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio within the EU-27’s media and communications sector (195.0 %) in 2006 indicated that apparent labour productivity was close to twice as high as average personnel costs. Again it was the telecommunications sector that recorded the highest ratio, 309.4 % in 2005. Among the Member States [4]only Denmark recorded a lower wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for media and communications than for the non-financial business economy as a whole. In a similar manner, the gross operating rate for the EU-27's media and communications sector stood at 22.6 % in 2006, which was more than twice the non-financial business economy average (10.8 %); once more the highest rate among the subsectors was recorded for telecommunications (30.8 %, 2005).

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 Labour force survey (LFS).

Context

This sector gathers together several activities linked to media and communication activities, however, within this group a distinction has to be made between traditional activities (for example, postal services) for which the level of activity is rather stable and other newer activities (such as mobile telephony and electronic publishing), for which growth developments are more marked.

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

Dedicated section

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland and Romania, 2005; Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
  2. ↑ NACE Divisions 55 and 60, 2005.
  3. ↑ Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland and Romania, 2005; Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
  4. ↑ Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland and Romania, 2005; Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands, not available.
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