Invest Europe Research

Private Equity at Work report (2020)

Data and insight

17 Sep 2020

Invest Europe provides, for the first time, detailed evidence and analysis of the European private equity and venture capital industry’s contribution to employment, in 2018, and job creation, in 2017-18, in Europe.

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Full report

Employment & job creation across Europe

Private equity is a cornerstone of the European economy present in every region and every major business sector across the continent. From technology and life sciences start-ups to manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large consumer-focused multinationals, private equity and venture capital backed companies support millions of high-value jobs driving prosperity and growth in the process.

Private equity is an engine for growth - building successful businesses which invest more in growth. And growth is an engine for creating jobs across Europe. In total, private equity supports 10.5 million jobs in Europe, making it a major employer in most industry sectors. And, as this research identifies, private equity achieves a job creation rate that is 5 times higher than the wider European market job creation average.

With this ‘Private Equity at Work’ report, Invest Europe is, for the first time, providing detailed evidence and analysis of the European private equity industry’s contribution to employment and job creation in Europe. Over time, our data will expand to create a comprehensive picture of our industry’s contribution to jobs, and the economy that those jobs support.

Employment 2018 - The facts

10.5m

European employees worked in private equity backed companies in 2018

4.5%

of the 234 million people in Europe's workforce are employed by private equity backed companies in 2018

22,659

companies in Europe backed by Private Equity in 2018 across all industry sectors and all regions

Employment by type of private equity firm

Chart Employment By Type Private Equity Firm 200906

Employment data is based on an extrapolation of a sample of 5,788 portfolio companies.

Job creation 2017-18 - The facts

173,124

net new jobs were created by private equity backed companies in 2018

+5.5%

Job creation of 5.5% in private equity backed companies in 2018

+10%

more new jobs created by SMEs in 2018

Private equity job creation outperforms the market

Job creation data is based solely on portfolio companies in Europe active and backed by Invest Europe members in 2017 & 2018. No extrapolation was performed to the European universe level for the job creation figures.