Structure and competitiveness of enterprises

Istat makes available data on the structure and economic performance of the enterprises in 2008, expressed for the first time in the classification of economic activities Nace Rev.2 according to specific criteria established by a new European Community Regulation (No 295/2008).

The data presented were collected using two different statistical surveys: the sample survey on the enterprises with 1-99 persons employed and the census survey on the enterprises with 100 and more persons employed. The innovations that have affected the annual statistics on economic performance of enterprises concerned, other than the new classification of economic activities, the sources and methods used for the integration of non-responses. In particular, most important economic variables about non-respondent enterprises were included in the final estimates using administrative sources (financial statements for corporate enterprises and fiscal data for other legal forms).

In 2008, enterprises in industrial and services sectors were 4,434,823. The persons employed were about 17.3 million people, of which 11.6 million employees, and the value added realized was around 714 billion euros. As regards the main economic indicators, the value added per employee was equal to 41.3 thousand euros, personnel costs per employee was equal to 32.9 thousand euros and the share of the profit on the value added was equal to 27.0 percent.

According to the SDDS programme of the IMF, Istat disseminates an annual calendar of press releases both on Istat and SDDS website.