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Scottish Corporate Sector Statistics 2007
06/12/2007
Scotland's Chief Statistician today released the Scottish Corporate Sector Statistics 2007. The publication includes key statistics on the number of businesses in Scotland with associated employment and turnover.
The main findings are:
- The total number of private sector enterprises in Scotland was 279,495 as at March 2007. A 5.3% increase since March 2006. The associated employment was 1.9 million (1.1% increase)
- Over the medium term, the total number of enterprises has increased by 20% between 1999 and 2007 (over 47,000 enterprises)
- The number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Scotland increased by 5.3% to 277,230. SMEs accounted for 99% of enterprises and 53% of employment
- Registered enterprises with ultimate ownership outside Scotland accounted for 3% of businesses and 34% of employment
The estimates have been constructed using data from the Inter Departmental Business Register (IDBR) operated by the Office for National Statistics, the Labour Force Survey (LFS), the Family Resources Survey (FRS) and the Survey of Personal Incomes (SPI). The IDBR extract provides an estimate of the number of enterprises registered for VAT and/or PAYE. A procedure that combines data from the IDBR with estimates derived from the LFS, FRS and SPI is used to estimate the number of unregistered enterprises.
The estimates include enterprises that operate in Scotland irrespective of whether their head office is located in Scotland or elsewhere. Enterprises are classified by employee size bands on the basis of the number of their total UK employees.