Statistics of high growth enterprises

Enterprises with at least five employees

216 902 enterprises existed in 2010 with at least one employee as an annual average. 10 131 of these showed an annual average increase in the number of employees of at least 7% and had at least 5 employees in 2007, which equals to a share of 4.7%. The “production sector” (ÖNACE 2008 sections B-F) shows with 5.7% a slightly higher rate than the “service sector” (ÖNACE 2008 section G-S) with 4.4%. The “production sector” shows higher shares, too, when the annual average increase is at least 10 or 20%. Contrary, the share of employees in high growth enterprises compared to all employees is considerably higher in the “service industries” (15.5% versus 9.6% in the “production” sector).

At the level of ÖNACE 2008 section there are high ratios of high growth enterprises (at least 7% annual average growth) in the “education” (8.4%), “transportation” (7.0%) and “administrative and support service activities” (6.4%). The smallest shares of high growth enterprises have the sections “real estate activities” with 1.7% and “financial and insurance activities” with 2.6%.

The highest shares of high growth enterprises have the capital companies with 8.0%, followed by non-incorporated firms with 5.5% and sole proprietorship with 2.4%.

Amongst the provinces the highest share of high growth enterprises is in Upper Austria (5.0%), followed by Vienna and Styria (both 4.8%). The smallest shares have Carinthia (4.1%) and the Burgenland (4.3%).

Enterprises with at least ten employees

7 678 employer enterprises had at least 10 employees in 2007 and had an average annual increase in the number of employees of at least 7% between 2007 and 2010. The share of high growth enterprises is in the “production sector” with 4.4% higher than in the “service sector” with 3.3%. The share of employees working in high growth enterprises is in the “service sector” with 14.7% considerably higher than in the “production sector” with 9.2%.

The highest shares on high growth enterprises can be found in the ÖNACE 2008 sections “education” (6.9%), “transportation” (5.7%) and “administrative and support service activities” (5.3%). The smallest shares show “real estate activities” (1.3%), “financial and insurance activities” and “other service activities” (each 2.1%).

Capital companies have the highest share of high growth enterprises (6.8%), followed by non-incorporated firms with 4.3% and sole proprietorship with 1.3%. This hierarchy remains unchanged if those enterprises are considered, which show an average annual growth of 10 or 20%.

Vienna shows the highest share of high growth enterprises amongst the provinces (3.9%), followed by Styria and Upper Austria with 3.7% each. The smallest share has “Carinthia” (3.0%) followed by the Burgenland (3.1%).

Further information on the methodology of the data collection.