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NRW is a state of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): Around 761,000 SMEs form the economic backbone of the region. Approx. 80 percent of the employed people subject to social security contributions work in small and me-dium-sized enterprises. Together they generate 42 percent of the net value added of the state. Skilled trades account for around 180,000 SMEs in NRW and are at the same time the state's biggest employer with about one million employees.
At the same time, 19 of the 50 German companies with the highest sales are based in NRW, including Bayer, Bertelsmann, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, E.ON, Metro, Rewe, RWE and ThyssenKrupp.
With the Metropole Ruhr as its core, NRW is the strongest industrial region in Europe. NRW is home to large industrial corporations of world standing as well as dozens of smaller companies which are leaders in their respective business fields. In 2010, the industrial enterprises based in NRW generated sales of 315.4 billion euros – which is 20.0 percent of industrial sales in Germany. 18.4 percent of the employed population of NRW work in the industrial sector.
Source: IT.NRW; the figures refer to companies with 20 and more employees
Nowhere else in Germany do industry-related service providers (e.g. consultancies, engineering offices, EDP, R&D) – many of which are business partners to industrial companies – contribute so much to innovation and value added as in North Rhine-Westphalia. The strength of industry in NRW is due in no small measure to the strength of these industry-related service providers.
Nearly 30 percent of the sales generated in the narrower sense by industry-related service providers in Germany comes from North Rhine-Westphalia – more than in any other state. The same is true of employment: 26.6 percent of all people employed in industry-related services in Germany work in NRW. Around 23 percent of the companies are also located here.
Structural change: In 1970, 55.7 percent of the state's gross value added was generated in industry and only 42.3 percent in the service sector. By 2010, this ratio had been more than reversed: the service sector dominated in North Rhine-Westphalia with 71.8 percent as compared to industry with 27.6 percent.
Sources: IT.NRW
The number of people employed in the production sector decreased between 1970 and 2010 from 3.8 to 2 million. In the service sector, the figure grew by more than a million to 6.6 million.
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