Employment & job creation
By type of private equity firm
How many people do private equity-backed businesses employ?
Private equity firms investing in companies around Europe employed 11.2 million people in 2023. That’s 5% of the continent’s entire active workforce*, or to look at it another way, more than the entire population of Czech Republic.
Our study found that over 28,610 companies across Europe are backed or owned by private equity, and that employment in the studied companies for job creation increased by 5% in 2023 – outperforming the wider market’s growth of 1%. This highlights the ability of private equity firms to grow businesses even under difficult market conditions.
Private equity-backed businesses span all sectors, from agriculture and biotech to communications, technology and transportation. Private equity is deeply rooted in every region and every industry in Europe. It is a cornerstone of the European economy.
11.2 million
employees worked in private equity-backed European companies in 2023
5%
of Europe’s total 240 million
workforce work in private
equity-backed European companies
Source: EDC / Eurostat / UK ONS
* EDC / Eurostat / UK ONS
Employment
In 2023 private equity firms employed 11.2 million staff. This is roughly half of the total employment in Italy (22.8 million).
Buyout
Buyout firms supported 5.7 million jobs at 4,536 companies in Europe. In other words, around half of all jobs supported by the private equity industry and more than the working population of Sweden (5.1 million).
Generalist
Generalist firms backed 11,985 active portfolio companies, more than twice as many as buyout firms, and supported 5.1 million jobs.
Venture capital
Venture capital firms supported 988,483 jobs at 13,524 mainly SMEs in Europe. This is around 9% of private equity employment, but venture capital supports around 47% (13,524) of the total number of companies backed by the industry.
28,610
companies in Europe backed by private equity in 2023, across all industry sectors, and all regions
11.2 million employees working in PE-backed companies: 5.7 million jobs supported by Buyout firms, 5.1 million by Generalist firms, almost 1 million by Venture capital firms.
Total employees working in private equity-backed European companies 2023
By type of firm
* Other includes Mezzanine & Turnaround/Rescue
Total sums to more than 11.2 million jobs since a company can be backed by multiple firms with different investment strategies.
Note: In this analysis, the Venture, Growth, Generalist and Buyout categories refer to the type of private equity firm. In the next analysis, the categories Venture, Growth and Buyout refer to the portfolio company stage. Although the category names are the same, the underlying data points are not comparable.
Sector split, total employees working in private equity-backed European companies 2023
By type of firm
When split by sector of employment, it can be seen that there is increased importance of companies in ICT sector for Venture firms (43% of total), and for Growth firms (28%), whereas for Buyout firms Consumer Goods & Services is by far the most important sector (31%).
* Other includes Mezzanine & Turnaround/Rescue
Job creation 2022-23
By type of firm
* Other includes Mezzanine & Turnaround/Rescue
+5%
net job creation in private
equity-backed companies
in 2023
vs.
+1%
overall European market’s
growth in 2023.
Source: Eurostat / UK ONS
Note: In this analysis, the Venture, Growth, Generalist and Buyout categories refer to the type of private equity firm. In the next analysis, the categories Venture, Growth and Buyout refer to the portfolio company stage. Although the category names are the same, the underlying data points are not comparable.
Job creation
Private equity-backed companies increased employment by 5% in 2023. That is impressive considering uncertainty during the year, and compares well to the +1% job growth seen in businesses overall across Europe.
Venture
Out of the 14,225 portfolio companies of our study, 6,883 were backed by Venture Capital firms and they experienced the highest overall growth rate: almost 6% increase in employment between 2022 and 2023, representing a net creation of 31,252 jobs. Companies in the energy and environment sector backed by Venture Capital experienced the highest total growth rate (22%).
Growth
With a relatively small sample of 1,022 portfolio companies, Growth firms backed the creation of 25,415 jobs, representing a 4% growth rate. For Growth backed companies, those in the consumer goods and services sector experienced the highest growth rate (6%).
Buyout & Generalist
Typically backing larger companies, Buyout and Generalist firms both saw job growth rates of +5%. From 2022-2023 these two backers saw net increases in employment of +216,779 and +133,581 respectively. Energy and environment companies backed by Buyout and Generalist firms experienced the highest growth rates (7% and 12% respectively).
+339,149
jobs created by private equity and venture capital-backed companies in 2023. A figure roughly comparable to the working population of the greater city of Bilbao, Spain.
Source: EDC / Eurostat