Employed persons in industry. By activity groups

The Structural Business Statistics in the Industrial Sector (called the Industrial Survey of Companies prior to the reference year 2014) is the main source of structural information on the industrial sectors. This sample survey is performed annually by the INE in collaboration with the Idescat. Its fundamental objective is to provide information on the main structural characteristics of industrial companies (production, sales, export, intermediate consumptions, investment, etc).

The basic unit used in the research is the company, defined as a legal entity constituting an organizational unit for the production of goods or services, one having certain autonomy in terms of decision-making, principally as to allocating the resources it has at its disposal. The company is the unit that reports (providing the data requested by the survey) and is also an observation unit (the data required by the questionnaire refers to the company).

The population examined in the Industrial Companies Survey consists of the group of companies whose main activity falls within those found from sections B to E in the Catalan Classification of Economic Activities (CCAE-2009): mining, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning, water supply, sanitation, waste management, and decontamination. A company's main activity is understood to be the one generating its greatest added value; if this does not apply, it is the one providing employment to the greatest number of people. Until 2007, the classification used was CCAE-93.

Employees are the group of people who, by performing their job, contribute to the production of goods or services or carry out auxiliary services to a company (administration, transport, warehousing). This includes on holiday staff, those on short-term or sick leave, those on strike, and those paid by the company but who work offsite. This does not include personnel with unlimited leave, personnel assigned to another company and are paid for this concept, personnel who work strictly on commission, freelance professionals bound to the company by commercial contract, exclusively financial partners or the owner's family members who do not take an active role in the company. The reference point for the employment data is 30th September of each year.

The changes made to Industrial Companies Surveys carried out from the 2008 results caused a methodological division within the series that hinders inter-annual comparisons, both in terms of the total amount of industry as well as most sectors and a large number of variables.

In 2011, the Survey widened and improved coverage of the energy sector (division 35 of the CCAE-2009) and, in 2013, the waste management sector (division 38 of the CCAE-2009).

Until the year 2012, the Survey focussed its field of study on industrial companies with at least one employee. From 2013 onwards, the population scope was widened to include industrial companies without employees and the territorial scope was widened to include companies in Ceuta and Melilla.

Several methodological improvements were applied to the Structural Business Statistics in 2016 as part of the Project for the integration of the structural economic surveys.

The lack of uniformity described means it would not be appropriate to calculate the year-over-year variation for these groups of activities for the mentioned years.

From 2019, the results for Spain are shown using the statistical companies unit, while for Catalonia the results continue to be shown in legal units.

You can get more information about these statistics in the methodology.