Family businesses create 76% of jobs
Study says around 90% of Catalan firms are considered family businesses and have huge impact on economy
A land of entrepreneurs, and most businesses in Catalonia are family companies. It is estimated that 90% of businesses, large or small, in the country can be classed as such, where more than 50% of the ownership is in the hands of the same family. It is estimated that they are responsible for about 68.9% of gross added value (GVA) and wealth generated in the territory and 75.8% of private employment. The figure exceeds the ratios in Spain, with 88% of family businesses, generating 60% of the GVA and job creation does not exceed 70%, while in Catalonia that amounts to 1.7 million jobs.
A study by Abat Oliva CEU, the Universitat de Lleida and the Universitat de Girona commissioned by the Catalan Association of Family Enterprise (with a sample of 29,000 companies) shows that the highest percentage of family businesses is in the province of Tarragona (93.3%), followed by Lleida (90.9%), Girona (89.4%) and Barcelona (87.2%), and sectors include construction and agriculture, livestock, forestry and fisheries, although one feature its transversality.
In fact working family businesses with fewer than 10 employees and a turnover of less than €2 million account for 86.7% of GVA produced by a private group of companies of similar sizes; while companies with over 10 employees and more than €2 million in sales generate 51% of GVA of the total.
Juan Corona, director general of the Institute for Family Business says the study proved “family business is clearly the skeleton of the Catalan economy, as we suspected.”
Corona yesterday stressed “the commitment of family business for employment” and the effort made in keeping staff throughout the crisis “at the expense of losing competitiveness and lower profitability.”