Employer enterprise deaths

In 2012, above-average employer enterprise death rates had the economic activities “Education” (13.0%), “Financial and insurance activities” (12.5%) and “Arts, entertainment and recreation” (11.4%). The rates were below average in the sectors “Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities” (2.5%), “Mining and quarrying” (2.5%) and “Manufacturing” (4.4%).

In terms of the effect on employment, an average of 3.7 jobs (for self-employed persons and employees) was affected per enterprise death. The highest average number of employed persons affected by enterprise deaths was recorded in the economic activities “Mining and quarrying” (6.2), “Manufacturing” (4.4) and “Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply” (5.0).

An examination of employer enterprise deaths by legal form shows that sole proprietorships did have the largest share (around 68%) of deaths (analogously to employer enterprise births). Also the highest death rate was recorded for employer enterprises founded as sole proprietorships (8.8%). The rates for limited liability companies and for partnerships and other legal forms were at 4.9% and 7.8% respectively. With regard to the average number of persons employed per employer enterprise death, the number for sole proprietorships was lower (3.4) compared with that of limited liability companies (3.5) and of partnerships and other legal forms (5.6).

The results for the death rate split by employment size classes show that the size class of between 1 and 4 employees had the highest employer enterprise death rate (10.2%). This size class also accounted for the majority of employer enterprise deaths (almost 88.5%). The death rates for the remaining size classes 5 to 9 and 10 and more employees were much lower (3.4% and 1.7% respectively); these size classes only accounted for 7.7% and 3.8% of all employer enterprise deaths.

A comparison by provinces in 2012 revealed the highest employer enterprise death rates for Vienna (8.6%) and Carinthia (7.7%). In absolute figures most of the employer enterprise closures could be found in Vienna (4 803), Lower Austria (2 861).

The results by gender (sole proprietorships only) show that around 70% of the sole proprietorships closed down in 2012 were owned by men. However, the death rate of employer enterprises which were founded by women was lower than that of the sole proprietorships owned by men (female employer sole proprietorships: 8.7%, male employer sole proprietorships: 8.8%).

Development of employer enterprise deaths over time (2004 to 2012)

Since 2004, the number of employer enterprise deaths continuously increased, in total by 26.6%. In every year from 2004 to 2012, the number of deaths was lower than that of births. Regarding the development by economic activity in this eight-year observation period, the increase in the number of employer enterprise deaths was highest in the branches “Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply” (+272,7%), “Human health and social work activities” (+172.8%) and “Financial and insurance activities” (+137.9%). In the sectors “Real estate activities” (-37.8%) and “Mining and quarrying” (-33.3%) were a decreases of deaths.

An analysis by legal form illustrates that the number of employer enterprises closed down as limited liability companies increased most over the years (+43.7%). For sole proprietorships, the number of deaths increased by 28.4% between 2004 and 2012, for partnerships (and other legal forms) the increase amounted to 5.1% only.

Observing the trends of employer enterprise deaths by employee size class it can be revealed that the number of cessations of enterprises with 1 to 4 and 5 to 9 employees increased most (+27.4% and +26.5%) between 2004 and 2012. Employer enterprise death that had 10 and more employees increased by 10.4%.

Regarding the results by gender (for sole proprietorships only) there was no real difference between closures of employer enterprises founded by women or by men; both increased (Women: 31.9% and Men: 26.9%).