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 11.4 million people in 2024. That’s 5% of the continent’s entire active workforce*, or to look at it another way, more than the entire population of the Czech Republic.
Our study found that 29,338 companies across Europe are backed or owned by private equity, and that employment in the studied companies for job creation increased by 4% in 2024 – 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.
11.4 million
employees worked in private equity-backed European companies in 2024
5%
of Europe’s total 244 million
workforce work in private
equity-backed European companies
Source: EDC / Eurostat / UK ONS
* EDC / Eurostat / UK ONS
Employment
In 2024 private equity firms employed 11.4 million staff. This is almost the total employment of the Netherlands and Finland together (11.9 million).
Buyout
Buyout firms supported 5.8 million jobs at 4,360 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 million).
Growth
Growth firms backed 1,874 active portfolio companies and supported over 0.9 million jobs, representing 8% of total PE-backed employment.
Generalist
Generalist firms backed 12,416 active portfolio companies, more than twice as many as buyout firms, and supported 5.2 million jobs.
Venture capital
Venture capital firms supported almost 1.1 million jobs at 14,051 mainly SMEs in Europe. This is around 9% of private equity employment, but venture capital supports around 48% (14,051) of the total number of companies backed by the industry.
29,338
companies in Europe backed by private equity in 2024, across all industry sectors, and all regions
Total employees working in private equity-backed European companies 2024
By type of firm
* Other includes Mezzanine & Turnaround/Rescue
Total sums to more than 11.4 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 2024
By type of firm
Similar to last year, Venture firms continue to be most concentrated in ICT (40%), while Buyout firms remain heavily focused on Consumer Goods & Services (30%) and Business Products & Services (27%).
This year, however, Growth firms are more evenly distributed across sectors, with each sector representing a broadly similar share – ranging from about 13% to 26% — rather than being concentrated in one dominant sector.
* Other includes Mezzanine & Turnaround/Rescue
Job creation 2023-24
By type of firm
* Other includes Mezzanine & Turnaround/Rescue
+4%
net job creation in private
equity-backed companies
in 2024
vs.
+1%
overall European market’s
growth in 2024.
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 4% in 2024. 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 15,650 portfolio companies of our study, 7,137 were backed by Venture Capital firms and they experienced an overall growth rate of 6% between 2023 and 2024, representing a net creation of 35,945 jobs. Companies in the Financial & Insurance Activities sector backed by Venture Capital experienced the highest total growth rate (10%).
Growth
With a relatively small sample of 1,078 portfolio companies, Growth firms backed the creation of 38,420 jobs, representing a 7% growth rate. For Growth backed companies, those in the Consumer Goods & Services sector experienced the highest growth rate (9%).
Buyout & Generalist
Typically backing larger companies, Buyout and Generalist firms both saw job growth rates of +4%. From 2023-2024 these two backers saw net increases in employment of +166,272 and +130,406 respectively. Energy & Environment companies backed by Buyout and Financial & Insurance Activities companies backed by Generalist firms experienced the highest growth rate (9%).
+295,312
jobs created by private equity and venture capital-backed companies in 2024. A figure roughly comparable to the working population of the greater city of Riga, Latvia.
Source: EDC / Eurostat