Business demography

Statistics on business demography include data on the population of active enterprises, on births of enterprises, their survival, on deaths of enterprises and on the corresponding employment data. Business demography statistics play a key role by forming a basis for political decisions and analyses. Another aspect of particular interest is the relevance of newly born enterprises in stimulating the economy by creating new jobs. Derived indicators such as births, deaths and (four-year) survival rates also form part of the EU structural indicators, which are used to monitor the progress made in the Lisbon process aimed at boosting growth and employment.

For the last few years the data on business demography has been collected at European level as part of a (voluntary) gentlemen's agreement. Austria has been participating on this harmonized data collection since 2008 (reference years 2005 and 2006). Since 2009 the data collection is mandatory. On European level the Annex IX of the revised EU regulation on structural business statistics and on national level the business-demography-regulation are the legal basis. The data are shown by economic activities (NACE Rev.2) and legal form, by economic activities and employee size class, by economic activities and provinces and economic activities and gender of the sole proprietor.

The recent compilation of business demography data for the reference year 2008 included also the switch to the new classification of economic activities NACE Rev.2 (Austrian Version, ÖNACE 2008). The switch to NACE Rev. 2 was implemented for the whole time series 2004-2008. Furthermore, the use of the most recent administrative data sources as well as estimation procedures results slightly different data for the years which have been compiled earlier (reporting period 2004-2007).

The calculations for the creation of the statistics of employer business demography use the currently available administrative data. In addition estimates are used to complete the calculation. For consistency, the calculations more made for the entire time series and not just for the current reporting year.

In 2008 28 983 enterprises with 70 041 employed persons (of which 44 231 were employees) were newly born. Measured by the number of active enterprises, this equals to a birth rate of 7.1%. There was thus a increase in the rate of new enterprises compared with the 2007 reporting year, when the birth rate was 6.6%. In general, the 2008 birth rate was – as expected – highest (7.3%) in the service sector (sections G-S, NACE REV.2, excluding 64.2 "Management activities of holding companies"). The birth rate was below average (6.0%) in manufactory and construction (sections B-F).

At NACE REV.2 section level, high birth rates were recorded in the economic branches of "Administrative and support service activities" (10.5%), "Transport and storage" (9.5%), "Real estate activities" (8.8%). The lowest birth rate was recorded in the "Mining and quarrying" (3.3%).

A total of 24 511 enterprises with 43 942 employed persons died in 2008, equaling to a death rate of 6.0%. In comparison to the reporting year 2007 the death rate declined a bit (6.1%). The death rate was highest (6.3%) in the service activities (sections G-S, excluding 64.2), while it was lowest (4.7%) in manufactory and construction. Above-average death rates were recorded in "Arts, Entertainment and recreation" (9.5%), "Information and communication" (8.2%) and "Education" (8.1%). The number of enterprise deaths as a percentage of all active enterprises was lowest in "Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply" (3.2%), "Human Health and Social work activities" (3.9%) and “Manufacturing“ (4,1%).

On average, 2.4 jobs (employed persons per enterprise birth) were created by newly born enterprises, while 1.8 jobs were lost per enterprise death. The highest total of employed persons in new enterprises was found in the "Accommodation and food service activities" (13 083); high numbers were also recorded in "Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles" (11 510) and in "Professional, scientific and technical activities" (9 089).

With respect to the survival of newly born enterprises, around 90% of enterprises born in 2004 were still active in 2005. The two-year survival rate (from 2004 to 2006) was still almost 80%, after three years 72.8% were still active and after four years 66.7% survived. The highest three-year survival rates were registered in "Human Health and Social work activities" (80.2%), "Real estate activities" (76.8%) and "Other service activities" (74.5%).

Further information on the methodology of the data collection.

Information on Employer Enterprise Statistics.

Table(s):
Main results: Enterprise births and deaths 2004 to 2008
Main results: Enterprise births and deaths 2004 to 2008 by provinces
Main results: Enterprise births and deaths 2004 to 2008 by gender of the sole proprietor
Results (overview): Survival rates of enterprises newly born in 2004
Results (overview): Survival rates of enterprises newly born in 2005
Results (overview): Survival rates of enterprises newly born in 2006

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Business demography