12,000 new enterprises set up in 2008

Almost 12,000 new enterprises were set up from scratch in 2008, employing about 13,900 people, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office.

The 11,800 new ventures accounted for about 5.8 per cent of total enterprises in 2008, with an estimated 203,100 enterprises in the business economy during the year. That was a decline of 4,700 between 2007 and 2008.

The largest percentage of new ventures was set up in the information and communication sector, which had a “birth rate” of 10 per cent. This was followed by the administrative and support service sector, which had a rate of 6.6 per cent.

In line with economic trends, real estate activities had the lowest rate of new ventures, with a “birth rate” of 4.2 per cent.

Meanwhile, the number of people engaged to the business sectors  covered by the survey fell by 2.1 per cent between 2007 and 2008.

Almost 74 per cent of the new enterprises set up in 2008 had no registered employment during the year, and 23 per cent had between one and four employees.

In 2007, some 13,300 new enterprises were set up, with 78 per cent still existing the following year. Employment at these ventures rose 89 per cent from 11,500 to 21,700 over that period.

Meanwhile, the 12,100 enterprises that survived from 2006 increased their total employment by 157 per cent from 12,500 to 32,200 between 2006 and 2008.