EMPLOYMENT : STUDY: SIX IN TEN JOBS CREATED BY SMALL ENTERPRISES.

• Position: Abstract - Report

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) provide a vital contribution to the EU's economy, being responsible for 85% of the net job growth between 2002 and 2010 and more than two-thirds of the total employment in the private sector. However, jobs in small companies are not as well paid as those in large companies. Such is the result of a study, presented on 16 January by the European Commission, on the essential contribution of SMEs to job creation.

The study was conducted at the end of 2010 by Business & Policy Research, as part of the 2007-2013 Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP). It covers the EU27 as well as ten other countries taking part in CIP - Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Croatia, Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia and Turkey. The study focuses on two key questions: 1. do SMEs create more jobs?; and 2. do SMEs create better quality jobs?

In answer to the first question, Business & Policy Research says that the annual employment growth for SMEs, which rose to 1%, has surpassed that of large companies (0.5%). In 2010, there were 20.8 million enterprises in the non-financial business economy (among which 99.8% of SMEs and 92% of microenterprises), providing employment for 87 million people in the EU. Twenty-four of the 27 EU member states had positive employment growth over the 2002-2010 period. New firms (younger than five years)...