Skip to main content

Employed persons in industry. By activity groups

Employed persons in industry. By activity groups (CCEA-2009) Catalonia. 2021
Value Variation (%)
Total industry 497,401 2.9
Extraction industries, oil refining 3,335 -1.3
Industries of food products 82,901 2.8
Production of beverages and of tobacco products 9,991 1.3
Manufacture of textiles, wearing apparel, leather and footwear 32,863 5.9
Manufacture of wood and cork-based products, except furniture; basketry 7,769 2.5
Manufacture of paper and graphic arts 29,699 4.8
Chemical industries 38,855 3.5
Manufacture of pharmaceutical products 24,183 2.3
Manufacture of rubber and plastic products 24,816 3.3
Other non-metal mineral products industries 11,796 -0.1
Metallurgy 7,145 6.8
Manufacture of steel products, except machinery and equipment 52,798 2.5
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical material and equipment 25,133 5.4
Manufacture of machinery and equipment not elsewhere classified 29,378 4.3
Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers 35,899 -2.1
Manufacture of other transport equipment, except motor vehicles 3,166 2.9
Furniture making and other manufacturing industries 19,164 7.7
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment 19,955 4.3
Electricity and gas production and supply 5,655 1.3
Water supply; sanitation and waste management 32,899 -0.6
Units: Persons.
Source: Idescat, based on the INE Structural Business Statistics in the Industrial Sector.
Note: Due to methodological improvements applied in 2021, the 2021 results for the grouping Water supply; sewerage and waste management are not strictly comparable with those of previous years, although the economic variables of the industry sector as a whole are hardly affected by the change.
Employed persons in industry. By activity groups (CCEA-2009) Spain. 2021
Value Variation (%)
Total industry 2,361,067 3.0
Extraction industries, oil refining 29,116 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available
Industries of food products 419,172 4.5
Production of beverages and of tobacco products 61,884 .. Confidential data, low reliability or not available
Manufacture of textiles, wearing apparel, leather and footwear 125,695 4.3
Manufacture of wood and cork-based products, except furniture; basketry 56,456 6.0
Manufacture of paper and graphic arts 111,501 5.5
Chemical industries 101,016 2.7
Manufacture of pharmaceutical products 51,310 0.6
Manufacture of rubber and plastic products 106,549 6.9
Other non-metal mineral products industries 108,634 7.5
Metallurgy 62,525 5.6
Manufacture of steel products, except machinery and equipment 259,004 2.6
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical material and equipment 104,368 5.3
Manufacture of machinery and equipment not elsewhere classified 119,501 1.8
Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers 157,338 -1.3
Manufacture of other transport equipment, except motor vehicles 48,892 -2.2
Furniture making and other manufacturing industries 108,725 5.7
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment 104,311 4.3
Electricity and gas production and supply 42,452 -5.4
Water supply; sanitation and waste management 182,619 -1.8
Units: Persons.
Source: INE. Structural business statistics in the industrial sector.
Notes:
As of 2019, the concept of company changes from legal unit (NIF) to statistical unit company (business group). Consequently, this year's results are not strictly comparable with previous years.
Due to methodological improvements applied in 2021, the 2021 results for the grouping Water supply; sewerage and waste management are not strictly comparable with those of previous years, although the economic variables of the industry sector as a whole are hardly affected by the change.
(..) Confidential data, low reliability or not available.

Last update: November 23, 2023.

Methodological note

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.

Correspondences between the 20 economic activity groups and the CCAE-2009
Activity groupsCCAE-2009
Mining and petroleum refining05–09, 19
Food industry 10
Production of beverages and of tobacco products 11–12
Manufacture of textiles, leather, footwear. Tailoring13–15
Manufacture of wood and cork-based products, except furniture; basketry16
Manufacture of paper and graphic arts17–18
Chemicals industries20
Manufacture of pharmaceutical products21
Manufacture of rubber and plastic products22
Other non-metal mineral products industries23
Metallurgy24
Manufacture of steel products, except machinery and equipment25
Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical material and equipment26–27
Manufacture of N.E.C. machinery and equipment28
Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers29
Manufacture of other transport equipment, except motor vehicles30
Furniture making and other manufacturing industries31–32
Repair and installation of machinery and equipment33
Electricity and gas production and supply35
Water supply; sanitation and waste management36–39

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.

See also