In the Czech economy, the segment of small and medium-sized enterprises plays an important role. When looked at from a long-term perspective, it accounts for roughly a half of total employment and for approximately one third of the economy’s output. The group of smallest companies, which employ not more than nine employees, plays a specific role. These findings have been shown in a freshly published analysis by the Czech Statistical Office (Český statistický úřad), called “Small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech economy between 2003 and 2010”. In 2010, there were more than 1.2 million people working in these firms and the average size of those companies did not exceed 1.2 employed persons.
Between 2003 and 2010, the employees of the smallest business segment accounted for 45.5% of employees of small and medium enterprises and 25.8% of employees in total. “In the smallest firms segment, the wage level is lower, the average wage being less than three quarters of the average wages of the whole segment of small and medium-sized enterprises. Over the period from 2003 to 2010, this ratio deteriorated; with the average wage of CZK 15,123 in the smallest companies in 2010, the difference amounted to CZK 5,623”, said the Czech Statistical Office in a press release.
The paper “Small and medium-sized enterprises in the Czech economy between 2003 and 2010” provides a detailed analysis of the segment of small and medium-sized companies over the decade. It compares the number of entities, employment, added value in accounting terms, sales and investment, as well as other parameters derived from those primary features, such as the average wage, labour productivity, investment rate, etc. The study and its individual parts are available for download on the CSO website here.
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