Structural business statistics: enterprises and enterprise groups - Year 2023

In 2023, the enterprises are over 4.5 million (+0.8% compared to 2022). The growth in the number of enterprises is more sustained in advanced service sectors, while in industry it is limited to energy and construction.

The value added in nominal value increase is 7.3%: +15.6% in construction; +7.2% in services +5.6% in manufacturing (including mining and quarrying and supply and sewerage). The increase for the total employment (+2.4%) is less significant than in 2022. Investments per employee grew by more than 11% in nominal terms, rising from 7.6 to 8.4 (k euros). The increase was concentrated in construction and services. In manufacturing, investment intensity grew only for small and medium-sized enterprises.

The enterprises organised in groups (just over 190,000 enterprises) generated 65.3% of total turnover and 57.9% of value added (+8.4% year-on-year).

Employment on the rise, particularly in medium-sized and large companies

In 2023 there were just over 4.5 million active enterprises (Nace Rev. 2 sections B to S with the exception of sections K and O and division 94) (+0.8% compared to 2022) employing 18.1 million people (+2.4% on 2022), of which about 13.4 million employees (+3.3% on 2022).

About 80% of enterprises operated in services (+1.1% compared to 2022), employing 67.5% of total employment and 63.2% of employees, and producing 55.7% of total value added. For services, employment growth rate was slightly above average (+2.6%; +3.7% for employees).

In 2023, 8.3% of enterprises were active in manufacturing. The total number of enterprises in this sector decreased (-1.6%) from the previous year. The employment growth was below the average (+1.8% for employment; +2.2% for employees). In 2023, manufacturing enterprises employed 23.5% of the workforce and 28.6% of employees, and produced 35.3% of the total value added.

The construction sector accounted for 11.8% of active enterprises, employing 9.0% of persons employed, and generating 9.0% of total value added. The increase in employment compared to the previous year is above average: +3.3% for total employment and +4.6% for employees.

Large enterprises (0.1% of the total) generated approximately 35% of the added value in 2023 (34.7%). They employed around a quarter of the total employment (24.4%) and a third of total employees (33.0%), showing an increase of +4.4% for both variables compared to the previous year. The same increases were recorded for medium enterprises, while they were slightly lower (+4.3%) for “20-49” size class.

4.2% of enterprises belonged to groups (190,777 enterprises in 124,274 groups), with over 6.9 million persons employed (+6.1% on 2022) and generated 65.3% of total turnover and 57.9% of value added (+8.4% year-on-year). Employment growth involved all types of groups: domestic groups grew by 10.6%, foreign multinationals by 4.6% and Italian multinational groups by 1.9%. Large enterprises organised into groups accounted for only 2% of the total, but generated 57.5% of the groups’ value added.

The average size of enterprises belonging to groups declined (36.3 employees compared to 39.3 in 2022). For companies belonging to multinational groups, the values were higher: the average size ranged from 111.9 employees for companies in groups with foreign governance to 135.2 for those in groups with Italian governance. The average size of domestic groups was 18.4 employees.

Rising value added and declining turnover

In 2023, for the third consecutive year after the decline due to the pandemic crisis (-10.5% in 2020 compared to 2019), the value added growth continued (+7.3%), although to a lesser extent than in previous years and in particular to 2021. The growth in value added was associated with a reduction in turnover (-2.2%) and a deeper contraction in costs for purchasing goods and services (-7.4%). In particular, there was a significant decrease in costs for purchasing goods (-12.1%), which was not counterbalanced by the increase in costs for purchasing services (+6.1%).

The increase in value added is higher for medium enterprises and enterprises in the class “10-49” persons employed (both, +8.5%). For large enterprises the growth was +7.8% whereas below-average results were recorded by micro enterprises (+5.9%) and those with 20-49 persons employed (+6.9%).

The comparison with the previous year showed a greater growth in value added for independent enterprises (+13.5%), while the growth for enterprises organised in groups slowed (+8.4%). In 2023, domestic group companies recorded the most significant increase (+12.2%), while those belonging to multinational groups grew by +6.7% (Chart 1).

The decline in turnover affected companies with more than 20 persons employed: -1.2% for those in the “20-49” size class, -6.7% for medium-sized enterprises, and -3.4% for large enterprises. The same trend was observed for enterprises belonging to groups (-4.4%), with an even more pronounced decline for medium-sized enterprises (-8.8%), -3.3% small enterprises in the “20-49” size class and -3.9% for large enterprises.

The costs for purchasing goods fell across all size classes in particular -17.7% for medium-sized enterprises and -14.9% for large enterprises. At the same time, the costs of purchasing services rose, particularly for larger enterprises (+8.1%) and those in the “10-19” size class (+6.9%).

Labour costs (+5.5%) and gross operating surplus (+9.2%) increased. The increase in labour costs showed rising values starting from +1.2% for micro enterprises, continuing in the central size categories with the following figures: +4.6% and +5.2% for the small in the “10-19” and “20-49” classes respectively, and exceeding the overall average values for medium (+6.6%) and large (+7.2%) enterprises.  

Gross operating surplus increased by 14.0% for the “10-19” size class and by 8.6% for the large enterprises. Remarkable increases also concerned medium-sized enterprises (+11.2%).

Investments per employee grew by more than 11% in nominal terms, rising from 7.6 to 8.4 (k euros). All size categories increased except for large enterprises (-1.7%).