Brussels, 11/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - A report on small business in the EU published by the European Commission on 11 June shows that the start of the economic crisis in 2008 ended the very positive growth rates seen since the start of the decade, when SMEs were the biggest creator of jobs in the European economy, creating 9.4 million jobs between 2002 and 2008. This contrasts with the 3.25 million jobs lost in SMEs in 2009 and 2010.
The report examining small businesses' performance gives a series of key facts about each EU member state and 10 countries outside the EU, describing the small business sector, the number of SMEs and the numbers of jobs created. It welcomes incentives introduced by the member states but points out that a lot remains to be done to ensure proper application of the guidelines set out in the EU's Small Business Act (SBA).
According to the report, the 20.7 million SMEs in the EU employ nearly 90 million people and are still the backbone of the EU economy. Between 2002 and 2008, small businesses did better than big business when it came to job creation and the number of jobs in SMEs rose over that period by 1.9% a year, compared with 0.8% a year in big business. The crises started off by hitting big and medium-sized businesses but it is small businesses that are now bearing the brunt. It is estimated that SMEs' production in the EU27 fell by 5.5% in 2009. In that year, the slowdown covered mainly large and medium-sized companies but small businesses are expected to be more affected this year and later on as well, as economic recovery measures are phased out. It is estimated that small businesses in the United States are suffering just as badly from the economic crisis, with the total number of small businesses falling by 0.6% in 2008 and 2.2 % in 2009. The member states are pressing ahead with the small business support measures recommended by the SBA. The report says that SBA factsheets show that more than 500 measures have been taken under the SBA's ten recommendations between 2007 and 2009, but only nine member states have covered all ten recommendations.
The annual examination of small business performance started in 2008, examining the situation in small and medium-sized businesses and policies to support them in the EU in order to help draw up effective policies based on the situation on the ground. The report was prepared by EIM Business & Policy Research. (E.H./transl.fl)