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Published: 27 November 2009

Number of enterprises went up again in 2008

According to the Business Register of Statistics Finland, 320,952 enterprises operated in Finland in 2008. They provided jobs for 1,502,213 persons as either employees or self-employed persons. The total turnover of the enterprises was EUR 396.6 billion.

The number of enterprises increased by 12,035, or by approximately four per cent from 2007. In relative terms, the number of enterprises increased by most, or by 14 per cent in real estate activities. The number of manufacturing enterprises increased by least, or by only 0.3 per cent. In the economic activity of mining and quarrying the number of enterprises fell.

Personnel increased by 20,345 from the year before, which converts to a growth of one per cent. In absolute terms the number of personnel increased by most, or by 4,373 persons, in construction. In manufacturing, the number of personnel fell by 3,640 persons. In general terms, personnel increased in service activities and decreased in manufacturing, and in agriculture, forestry and fishery.

The total turnover of enterprises went up from the previous year’s EUR 374.6 billion to EUR 396.6 billion in 2008. The growth amounted to around six per cent, which was a couple of percentage points below the respective figure in the year before. The highest growth percentage of 19 per cent was recorded in the category of energy supply. Turnover grew by some three per cent in manufacturing and by six per cent in trade.

Ninety-nine per cent of all enterprises were small enterprises, i.e. employed fewer than 50 persons. The share of medium-size enterprises employing under 250 persons was 0.8 per cent while 0.2 per cent were large enterprises employing more than 250 persons. The small enterprises employed 46.4 per cent, medium-size enterprises 16.4 per cent and large enterprises 37.2 per cent of all personnel. However, the largest share, or 51.3 per cent, of the total turnover was generated by the large enterprises. She share of small enterprises was 32.6 per cent and that of medium-size enterprises 16.1 per cent. In relative terms the number of the very smallest enterprises employing fewer than five persons increased by most, or by 4.5 per cent, from the previous year. By contrast, personnel and turnover increased by most in large enterprises. The turnover of the medium-size enterprises contracted by good one per cent.

Around three per cent of the enterprises belonged to a group. These enterprises accounted for 53 per cent of the labour force and 74 per cent of the turnover of all enterprises. These shares were almost unchanged from the previous year.

According to the Business Register the total number of enterprise groups was 5,977. Among them, 1,709 were fully Finnish-owned, 597 were Finnish-owned multinational and 3,671 were foreign-owned. The groups provided jobs for 800,240 persons in Finland, of whom approximately 70 per cent worked for domestic groups.

Enterprises, and their personnel and turnover by economic activity 2008

Economic activity	Enterprises	Enterprise %	Personnel	Personnel %	Turnover EUR million	Turnover %
A Agriculture, forestry and fishing	57 951	18	66 852	4	1 337 1)	0
B Mining and quarrying	968	0	4 382	0	1 221	0
C Manufacturing	23 290	7	382 014	25	150 644	38
F Construction	41 295	13	151 607	10	27 117	7
G Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	47 042	15	252 762	17	125 058	32
H Transportation and storage	22 885	7	136 723	9	22 106	6
I Accommodation and food service activities	10 923	3	53 318	4	5 488	1
J Information and communication	8 353	3	83 118	6	15 909	4
K Financial and insurance activities	4 464	1	45 762	3	..	0
L Real estate activities	15 067	5	18 652	1	5 035	1
M Professional, scientific and technical activities	31 765	10	88 759	6	12 144	3
N Administrative and support service activities	12 559	4	104 768	7	8 623	2
Q Human health and social work activities	17 094	5	46 579	3	3 540	1
R Arts, entertainment and recreation	5 378	2	11 930	1	3 378	1
S Other services	17 442	5	24 501	2	1 418	0
Other (D, E, O, P,X)	4 476	1	30 488	2	13 574	3
Total	320 952	100	1 502 213	100	396 591	100

1) includes only forestry income

Source: Business Register. Finnish enterprises 2008, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Tarja Jämsen (09) 1734 3344, yritys.rekisteri@stat.fi

Director in charge: Hannele Orjala

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Updated 27.11.2009