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Archive:Renting and operational leasing statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1

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 renting and operational leasing statistics, corresponding to NACE Division 71, which is part of the real estate, renting and leasing sector. The activities covered in this article are:

  • renting machinery and equipment without operators;
  • renting personal and household goods.

A distinction can be made between operational leasing (or long-term rental) which is included in this article, and financial leasing which is considered as a special form of credit granting and is hence covered as part of the financial and insurance services sector (see Financial and insurance sector statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1). The renting and leasing of real estate is covered in Real estate statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1.

Table 1: Renting of machinery and equipment without operator and of personal and household goods (NACE Division 71). Structural profile, EU-27, 2006 (1)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

Table 2: Renting of machinery and equipment without operator and of personal and household goods (NACE Division 71). Structural profile: ranking of top five Member States in terms of value added and persons employed, 2006
Table 3: Renting of machinery and equipment without operator and of personal and household goods (NACE Division 71). Expenditure, productivity and profitability, EU-27, 2006 (1)
Table 4: Renting of machinery and equipment without operator and of personal and household goods (NACE Division 71). Main indicators, 2006 (1)

Around 150.2 thousand enterprises were active in the [[Glossary:EU-27|EU-27's renting and leasing sector (NACE Division 71) in 2006, and they generated EUR 70 billion of value added. This sector employed an estimated 600.0 thousand persons in 2005. The renting of transport equipment (NACE Groups 71.1 and 71.2) generated EUR 41.2 billion of value added in the EU-27 in 2005, and accounted for more than half or the renting and leasing sector's value added. The renting of other machinery and equipment (NACE Group 71.3) generated EUR 29.0 billion of value added in 2006, with the renting of personal and household goods (NACE Group 71.4) clearly the smallest subsector with value added of EUR 6.6 billion in 2005. In employment terms, the largest workforce in 2006 was for the renting of other machinery and equipment, where an estimated 280.0 thousand persons were employed: in each of the other two subsectors around 100.0 thousand fewer persons were employed.

The United Kingdom and Germany together generated just over half of the value added in the EU-27's renting and leasing sector in 2006, while France was the only other Member State to record a double digit share. The relative importance in terms of employment was very different, as the United Kingdom had by far the largest workforce, 178.7 thousand persons employed, close to three tenths of the EU-27 total in 2005, more than double the shares recorded in France, Germany and Spain in the same year. Given the very high concentration of the sector's value added in the United Kingdom and Germany, it is unsurprising that these two larger Member States figure among the Member States most specialised in this sector. Austria was however the Member State that was most specialised in the renting and leasing sector [1], as 1.9 % of value added in the Austrian non-financial business economy was generated by this sector in 2006. In these terms, Slovenia and Bulgaria (2005) were the least specialised Member States, as value added from renting and leasing activities contributed just 0.1 % and 0.3 % respectively of the total value added in their non-financial business economies.

An analysis of the three subsectors [2] shows that the renting of transport equipment accounted for 70 % or more of the renting and leasing sector's total value added in Luxembourg, Cyprus (2005), Portugal and the Netherlands. In Slovakia, Latvia, Spain and Finland the renting of other machinery and equipment subsector generated more than half of sectoral value added, while only in the small Slovenian renting and leasing sector did the renting of personal and household goods exceed one fifth of total renting and leasing value added.

Expenditure and productivity

Gross tangible investment in the EU-27's renting and leasing sector was valued at EUR 75 billion in 2006, some 29.8 % of the real estate, renting and leasing total. Most of this investment, EUR 52 billion, was recorded in the renting of transport equipment subsector, with EUR 19 billion for the renting of other equipment, and a relatively low amount in the renting of personal and household goods, just EUR 3 billion. The investment rate, which relates the level of investment to the value added, illustrates the very different investment levels of the three subsectors, which in 2005 ranged from 29.8 % for the renting of personal and household goods to 130.8 % for the renting of transport equipment. As a whole, the EU-27's renting and leasing sector recorded an investment rate of 107.1 % in 2006, some 5.8 times as high as the non-financial business economy average, and the highest rate among all of the non-financial business economy NACE divisions in 2005 or 2006.

Unlike for the real estate sector, personnel costs represented a relatively normal (16.7 %) share of operating expenditure in the EU-27's renting and leasing sector in 2006, 0.5 percentage points above the non-financial business economy average. This share was however notably lower (10.0 % in 2005) for the renting of transport equipment subsector, while it was above average for the other two subsectors. Average personnel costs ranged from EUR 23 100 per employee in the renting of personal and household goods subsector, which was below the non-financial business economy average of EUR 28.8 thousand per employee, to EUR 33.3 thousand per employee in both of the two larger subsectors.

Reflecting the high capital intensity, apparent labour productivity for EU-27 renting and leasing activities averaged EUR 125.0 thousand per person employed in 2005. This productivity measure rose to EUR 230.4 thousand per person employed for the renting of transport equipment subsector, one of the highest levels recorded in the non-financial business economy. Equally the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio of the renting of transport equipment subsector was very high, 720 % in the EU-27 in 2005. This helped boost this ratio for the whole of the EU-27's renting and leasing sector to 400 %, the third highest of any NACE division in the non-financial business economy in 2005 or 2006, lower only than two of the mining and quarrying divisions. These high productivity measures in the renting and leasing sector can, in part, be explained by the specific nature of this activity, where the main costs of enterprises are likely to be financial ones covering borrowing as well as depreciation charges, neither of which impact on gross value added.

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.

Context

Real estate services and renting and leasing services are provided to households and to business clients. The use of renting or operating leasing can increase financial flexibility, reducing the need to commit own capital, whether for buildings, machinery, equipment or appliances.

In general, durable goods can be purchased, leased or rented. In the case of leasing, the two parties involved in the transaction are the lessor and the lessee (the person or enterprise that uses the good in leasing). In exchange for the transfer of user rights, the lessor receives payments. Leasing, contrary to renting, often foresees the possibility of the acquisition of the good at the end of the leasing term; renting is also usually for shorter periods than leasing. The most important items that are rented or leased include transport equipment (motor vehicles, ships, aircraft, etc.) and agricultural, industrial, construction or office equipment.

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

Dedicated section

Notes

  1. ↑ Bulgaria, Cyprus, Poland and Romania, 2005; Malta, the Netherlands and Sweden, not available.
  2. ↑ Cyprus and Poland, 2005; Ireland, Malta and Sweden, incomplete or not available.
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