Invest Europe

Employment & job creation

By portfolio company sector

How does private equity support jobs across industry sectors?

When companies with growth potential need investment and expertise to enable them to expand or develop, private equity is almost always on hand. That’s why private equity is found investing in every major industry and business sector across Europe.

In addition to financial backing, private equity helps its portfolio companies to improve operations, upgrade their offer, boost sales and drive profits – all of which fuel company growth and job creation.

Our study shows that four industry sectors represent more than 80% of all private equity-backed employment in European companies.

Employment

Private equity-backed companies in the Business Products & Services sector employ more than 3 million people, which is 27% of total private equity-backed European company employment.

This is closely followed by private equity-backed Consumer Goods & Services companies, also employing 3 million people (27%).

Following that are Information Communications Technology (ICT) which employs more than 1.6 million people or 15%, and Biotech & Healthcare which employs almost 1.4 million people or 12%.

Our research shows that companies backed by private equity in these four sectors employed more than 9 million people in 2023, across roughly 24,000 companies in Europe.

Top 3 sectors

European private equity-backed employment

Business Products & Services

27% of total

3,037,465 employees

4,647 companies

Consumer Goods & Services

27% of total

3,006,482 employees

5,373 companies

Information Communications Technology (ICT)

15% of total

1,630,173 employees

9,962 companies

Private equity-backed company employment 2023

By sector

SUCCESS STORY

Norled AS

Norled, one of Norway’s leading marine transport companies, is spearheading the shift to renewable electric and hydrogen-powered vessels with significant investments in hybrid and zero-emission technology, aiming for a mostly carbon-free fleet within the next decade.

1,000

staff members

View more success stories

View Norled success story

Job creation

This year saw positive job growth in all sectors, in a range of 0.4%-9.5%. In the last two years, Energy & Environment companies have been growing more, reaching a growth level of 9.5%. The next closest sector to this were those in the Financial & Insurance Activities sector, which saw overall growth of 7%.

For the first time in 2023, companies in the Transportation sector are among the top 3 in terms of growth (6%). On the other hand, job growth rate for ICT and Biotech & Healthcare decreased compared to the last two years: 5.8% and 5.5% respectively. In absolute terms, Consumer Goods & Services, Business Products & Services and ICT created the most jobs: +86,872, +79,795 and 54,292 jobs respectively.

Remarkable is also the number of jobs created by Biotech & Healthcare in 2023: +48,913 jobs.

Whatever the economic backdrop and whatever the sector, private equity’s focus remains the same – making stronger, more profitable and more successful businesses. And, as a result, those businesses invariably need more employees.

Across all sectors, private equity’s job creation rate of +5% stacks up very well against the +1% in the wider European market.

Source: EDC / Eurostat / UK ONS

In 2023 the 3 sectors that had the highest job growth rate were Energy & Environment (9.5%), Financial & Insurance activities (7%), and Transportation (6%). However, the 3 sectors that created the most jobs in absolute terms were Consumer Goods & Services (86,872 jobs), Business Products & Services (79,795 jobs), and ICT (54,292 jobs).