Statistics Explained

Archive:Security and investigation services statistics - NACE Rev. 2

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Data from October 2015. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.

This article presents an overview of statistics for the security and investigation services sector in the European Union (EU), as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 80. It belongs to a set of statistical articles on 'Business economy by sector'.

Table 1: Key indicators, security and investigation activities (NACE Division 80), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Figure 1: Sectoral analysis of security and investigation activities (NACE Division 80), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 2a: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, security and investigation activities (NACE Division 80), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 2b: Sectoral analysis of key indicators, security and investigation activities (NACE Division 80), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 3: Largest and most specialised Member States in security and investigation activities (NACE Division 80), EU-28, 2012 (¹) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 4a: Key indicators, security and investigation activities (NACE Division 80), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 4b: Key indicators, security and investigation activities (NACE Division 80), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_na_1a_se_r2)
Table 5: Key size class indicators, security and investigation activities (NACE Division 80), EU-28, 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Figure 2: Relative importance of enterprise size classes, security and investigation activities (NACE Division 80), EU-28, 2012 (¹)
(% share of sectoral total) - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Table 6a: Employment by enterprise size class, security and investigation activities (NACE Division 80), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)
Table 6b: Value added by enterprise size class, security and investigation activities (NACE Division 80), 2012 - Source: Eurostat (sbs_sc_1b_se_r2)

Main statistical findings

Structural profile

There were 53.8 thousand enterprises operating within the security and investigation services (Division 80) sector in the EU-28 in 2012. They employed 1.41 million persons, which was equivalent to 1.1 % of the total workforce within the non-financial business economy (Sections B to J and L to N and Division 95) or slightly more than 1 in 10 (10.5%) of those employed in administrative and support services (Section N). EU-28 security and investigation services enterprises generated EUR 31.7 billion of value added which was equivalent to 0.5 % of the non-financial business economy total or 7.5 % of the administrative and support services total.

The apparent labour productivity of the EU-28’s security and investigation services sector in 2012 was EUR 22.0 thousand of value added per person employed, which was just under half of the non-financial business economy average (EUR 46.2 thousand) and some EUR 10.0 thousand below the administrative and support services average. As such, the security and investigation services sector recorded the fourth lowest level of apparent labour productivity among all of the NACE divisions that constitute the non-financial business economy.

Alongside this very low level of apparent labour productivity, average personnel costs within the EU-28’s security and investigation services sector were also relatively low at EUR 19.9 thousand per employee in 2012, some EUR 12.5 thousand below the average for the non-financial business economy and EUR 3.2 thousand lower than the average for administrative and support services. EU-28 average personnel costs for the security and investigation services sector were the fourth lowest across all of the NACE divisions within the non-financial business economy.

The wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio combines the two previous indicators and shows the extent to which value added per person employed covers average personnel costs per employee. With both of these indicators being very low for the security and investigation services sector they largely cancelled each other out when compared with benchmark values such as those for the non-financial business economy. However, with apparent labour productivity being proportionally lower than average personnel costs this resulted in a wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio for the EU-28’s security and investigation services sector of 113.0 %, somewhat inferior to the non-financial business economy average (142.7 %) or the administrative and support services average (137.0 %).

The gross operating rate (the relation between the gross operating surplus and turnover) is one measure of operating profitability; it stood at 9.2 % for the EU-28’s security and investigation services sector in 2011, which was broadly in line with the non-financial business economy average (9.4 % in 2012), but lower than the administrative and support services average (15.4 % in 2012).

Sectoral analysis

Almost 7 in every 10 enterprises (66.0 %) within the EU-28’s security and investigation services sector were classified as operating within the private security activities (Group 80.1) subsector, while just under one in five (18.6 %) operated within the security systems service activities subsector (Group 80.2), leaving the residual (14.9 %) engaged in investigation activities (Group 80.3).

In terms of output (as measured by value added) and persons employed, the relative importance of private security activities was even more pronounced, as this subsector accounted for 87.2 % of sectoral value added and for 89.2 % of the sectoral workforce. The majority of the remainder was accounted for by the security systems service activities subsector, with an 11.5 % share of added value and an 9.1 % share of the workforce. Investigation activities accounted for no more than 2.0 % of sectoral value added or employment.

The low apparent labour productivity figure for the whole of the security and investigation services sector was a pattern repeated across all three subsectors, as this ratio ranged from a high of EUR 28.0 thousand of added value per person employed for the EU-28’s security systems service activities subsector to a low of EUR 17.0 thousand per person employed for investigation activities; the latter was the third lowest level of apparent productivity among any of the NACE groups that constitute the non-financial business economy.

Average personnel costs mirrored the pattern for apparent labour productivity insofar as they were consistently well below the non-financial business economy average for all three security and investigation services subsectors. The lowest level of EU-28 average personnel costs was recorded for investigation activities (EUR 15.0 thousand per employee in 2011); this latter figure was the joint fifth lowest level of average personnel costs per employee across all of the NACE groups that constitute the non-financial business economy — along with the restaurants and mobile food services subsector (Group 56.1).

All three security and investigation services subsectors also reported EU-28 wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios in 2012 that were considerably below the non-financial business economy average of 142.7 %. These ranged from 121.0 % for the security systems service activities subsector down to 112.0 % for the largest subsector, private security activities.

There was a substantial difference between the subsectors in relation to operating profitability. The lowest gross operating rate was recorded for the EU-28’s private security activities subsector, at 9.1 % in 2012, just below the non-financial business economy average (9.4 %). Only slightly higher gross operating rate was recorded for the security systems service activities (10.5 %). By contrast, operating profitability was highest in the smallest subsector — the gross operating rate in the investigation activities subsector reached 20.0 % and more than doubled the non-financial business economy average.

Country analysis

The United Kingdom accounted for a 20.5 % share of EU-28 value added within the security and investigation services sector in 2012. The United Kingdom also recorded the highest share of EU-28 added value for the private security activities subsector (21.5 %), while France had the biggest share of the security systems service activities subsector (23.8 %) and Italy for the investigation activities subsector (23.9 %).

In relative terms, the value added generated by the security and investigation services sector in 2012 accounted for 1.7 % of non-financial business economy added value in Greece, the highest share among those EU Member States for which data are available; Bulgaria, Romania and Portugal followed, all reporting shares between 0.9 % and 1.1 %. Although the share of Greece’s security and investigation services sector in EU-28 added value was only about 2.9 %, it recorded the third highest share in EU-28 value added for any NACE division within the Greece’s non-financial business economy. At the other end of the range, the least specialised Member States in relation to the security and investigation services sector included Denmark, Cyprus and Austria, where this activity generated no more than 0.2 % of value added within the whole of the non-financial business economy. Norway was also a country rather unspecialised in this activity, as its security and investigation services sector accounted only for 0.3 % of their total value added in the non-financial business economy, which was lower than the EU-28 average (0.5 %).

The United Kingdom was also the leading employer within the security and investigation services sector, as its workforce of 198.0 thousand persons was equivalent to 14.0 % of the EU-28 total in 2012, followed by Germany (13.2 %), France (12.3 %), and Poland (9.5 %); each of these three Member States had a workforce of more than 130 thousand persons.

All of the EU Member States for which data are available in 2012, reported wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for security and investigation services that were above 100 %. However, all of the Member States recorded wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios for the security and investigation services sector that were lower than their non-financial business economy averages, the only exception was Greece. The highest wage-adjusted labour productivity ratios were recorded in the United Kingdom (136.2 %), Bulgaria (126.0 %) and Greece (117.3 %).

For the gross operating rate, there was a wider range of values, with around one quarter of the EU Member States for which data are available reporting that they had a higher profitability rate for security and investigation services than they did for their respective non-financial business economies. This was most evident in the United Kingdom, where the gross operating rate for security and investigation services reached the highest level of 19.3 %, some 6.5 percentage points higher than the United Kingdom’s non-financial business economy average. By contrast, the lowest gross operating rates were recorded in France (2.4 %) and in Ireland (4.0 %), which was 11.2 percentage points lower than the Ireland’s non-financial business economy average.

Size class analysis

The relative importance of the four different enterprise size classes within the EU-28’s security and investigation activities sector rose as a function of average enterprise size. Large enterprises (employing 250 or more persons) accounted for a majority (58.0 %) of the sectoral workforce and for an even higher share (59.1 %) of sectoral added value in 2012. The second highest shares were recorded for medium-sized enterprises (employing 50 to 249 persons); they accounted for about one fifth of total activity, with a 22.4 % share of sectoral employment and a 20.3 % share of sectoral value added.

Among those EU Member States for which data are available, the majority reported that large enterprises accounted for more than half of their security and investigation activities workforce in 2012. Large enterprises were particularly prominent, in terms of their employment share, in Portugal (85.1 % of the sectoral workforce), while in excess of 7 out of 10 persons were also employed by large enterprises in Greece, Spain, Croatia and Belgium. The prevalence of large enterprises was also apparent in the non-member countries, as they provided 81.2 % and 61.1 % of the security and investigation activities workforce in Norway and Switzerland. As such, the contribution of large enterprises to the Norwegian workforce was 23.2 percentage points higher than the EU-28 average.

By contrast, at the other end of the ranking there were three EU Member States — Slovakia, Latvia and Hungary — where the relative importance of large enterprises in terms of their share on employment was below one third, with the lowest share recorded in Hungary, where barely one in five persons occupied in the security and investigation activities sector worked for a large enterprise (21.4 %).

There was a fairly narrow range in the productivity ratios recorded for each of the different size classes within the EU-28 security and investigation activities sector in 2012. Apparent labour productivity was highest at either end of the scale: micro enterprises (with fewer than 10 persons employed) generated, on average, EUR 27.3 thousand of value added per person employed, while the corresponding value for large enterprises was EUR 4.4 thousand lower. The lowest productivity levels were recorded for the medium-sized and small enterprises, producing just EUR 20.3 thousand and 21.5 thousand of value added per person employed.

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 security and investigation services sector in the EU, as covered by NACE Rev. 2 Division 80. It includes security-related services such as private security services, security systems services and investigation activities. Private security activities include the provision of guard and patrol services, protected pick-up, transit and delivery of valuable items (including money), bodyguard services and fingerprinting services. Security systems service activities include monitoring of electronic security alarm systems (such as burglar and fire alarms) including their installation and maintenance. Also included are installing, repairing, rebuilding, and adjusting mechanical or electronic locking devices, safes and security vaults in connection with later monitoring and remote monitoring. Investigation activities include investigation and detective services regardless of the type of client or purpose of investigation.

This NACE division is composed of three groups:

  • private security activities (Group 80.1);
  • security systems service activities (Group 80.2);
  • investigation activities (Group 80.3).

Public order and safety activities, which form part of public administration and defence; compulsory social security (Division 84) are excluded, as are the installation or sale of security systems without later monitoring — which form part of specialised construction activities (Division 43) and retail trade (Division 47). Also excluded are services of security consultants, which from part of other professional, scientific and technical activities (Division 74).

See also

Further Eurostat information

Publications

Main tables

Database

SBS – services (sbs_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 and figures (MS Excel)

Other information

External links

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