Structure and competitiveness of enterprises

In 2012 enterprises in the industrial and services sectors were 4.4 million and employed about 16.1 million of persons (11.2 million employees). The average enterprise size was 3.7 persons employed.

Italian enterprises produced value added for around 690 billion euros. The value added per person employed was 42,800 euros, the personnel costs per employee were 34,400 euros, wage and salaries per employee were 24,800 euros, and the amount of gross profit margin was 26.3%.

Micro-enterprises (with less than 10 persons employed) represented 95.2% of active enterprises, 47.5% of persons employed and 30.8% of the total value added. Among them, those with only one person employed were over 2,4 million and contributed to one third of the total value added of this class.

Small and medium enterprises (with 10-249 persons employed) employed 33.1% of the persons employed and accounted for 37.7% to the value added, while in larger enterprises (with 250 or more persons employed) there were 19.4% of persons employed and 31.5% of value added.

The services sector – accounting for 76.8% of enterprises, 64.7% of persons employed and 56.7% of value added – remained the most important economic sector in quantitative terms. The industry (excluding constructions) represented 10.1% of enterprises, 25.7% of persons employed and 35.5% of value added. In construction were concentrated 13.1% of enterprises, 9.6% of persons employed and 7.7% of value added.

In 2012 Italian enterprises invested in tangible goods about 92 billion euros. Each employee worked 1,618 hours on average, with higher levels in industrial sector (1,653) and lower ones in services sector (1,594).

The export propensity of the manufacturing sector (measured by the ratio of exports to total turnover) amounted to 33.7%.

Northern enterprises contributed for 61.7% to total value added. The share of value added was 21.4% in the Centre area and 16.9% in the South and Islands area.

For more details please refer to the Italian version