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JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH

 

 

 

Chart 4 The number of the employed in 2012 (in thousand) in 
companies in Poland and EU Member States 

 

 

 

Source: Report on the state of the sector of small and medium-
sized enterprises in Poland in the years 2012-2013, PARP, 
Warsaw 2014 , pp. 24-25 
 
Another part of the research in this subgroup is devoted to the 
analysis of the average level of employment at one company in 
Poland and selected EU countries in 2012 - chart 5. Based on 
Eurostat data, Poland, with the result of about 4.3 persons 
employed in a single economic entity, occupies 14th place 
among 24 European countries. However, in the EU, one 
company is on average workplace for approx. 5.4 employees. 
Certainly the undisputed leader in the presented ranking is 
Germany with a score of 11 employees on 1 company during the 
year. The second position with the result of 10 employees came 
in the United Kingdom. Key positions of these two countries are 
mainly due to the share of large companies (both German and 
British) in their employment structures. Third place went to 
Romania, and the following places were occupied by the 
following countries: Luxembourg, Austria and Estonia. 
However, half the rate belonged to Bulgaria and Cyprus, and 
Poland was behind them. The rate, however, is closed by the 
following countries: Czech Republic, Italy and Slovakia, which 
received the results very close to each other - (less than three 
employees per one economic entity). 

Chart 5 Average employment per one company in Poland and 
selected EU countries in 2012 

 

Source: Report on the state of the sector of small and medium-
sized enterprises in Poland in the years 2012-2013, PARP, 
Warsaw 2014, p. 26

 

 
After analyzing the number of employees in the European 
corporate sector and the average level of employment in one 
company, we should also examine the rate of entrepreneurship 
that characterize selected countries of the Union - graph 6. It 
should be emphasized that the level of entrepreneurship is 
measured as the number of adults intending to start a business 
within the next three years. 
 
In 2013 the rate of entrepreneurship in the Polish economy was 
above the EU average. This reflects the fact that the Poles tend to 
act, search for new solutions, make changes in the previous 
activity, use emerging opportunities [Wolak-Tuzimek et al., 

2015, p. 13]. A very high sixth position of Poland certainly 
affects the favorable situation of this country in the future. 
However, the best results in terms of the rate of entrepreneurship 
noted Romania, followed by Latvia. The third and fourth place 
was taken by Lithuania and Croatia. In contrast, Slovakia came 
in just behind Poland. It is worth noting that the Czech and 
Hungarian economy achieved the rate of entrepreneurship at the 
level of EU average. Portugal was only slightly worse, closely 
followed by France and Ireland and Slovenia. Nevertheless, the 
weakest level of the entrepreneurship indicator is characterized 
by the following countries: United Kingdom, Germany and, with 
the worst result, Denmark. 

Chart 6 Entrepreneurship rate (% of adults who intend to start 
their own company in 3 years' time) in selected EU countries in 
2013 

 

Source: Own calculations based on European Commission Press 
Release Database Sheet SBA 2014 Brussels: 2014. Figures for 
2013. http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-655_pl.htm, 
[Access 12.05. 15]

 

 
1.4 Financial and investment situation of enterprises 
operating in Europe 
 
In view of the Eurostat data, Polish corporate sector 
productivity, measured using the results attributable to one 
employee - chart 7, is significantly lower than the average in EU 
countries. Analyzing the chart below one can conclude that, 
according to company turnover per an employee, Polish 
companies take 20th place (with the result of approximately 100 
thousand EUR in 2012), in the presented European countries 
ranking. Poland in this aspect stayed ahead of only five 
countries, namely: Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia, Romania and 
Bulgaria. In contrast, the companies from Switzerland did the 
best (almost 700 thousand EUR), Luxembourg (over 570 
thousand EUR), Norway (approximately 450 thousand EUR) 
and Belgium (approximately 360 thousand EUR). 
 
It may be noted that Polish companies stand out from economic 
entities from more developed countries in Europe. This is mainly 
due to the fact of ownership and disposition of poorer 
technological equipment and the use of unsuitable organizational 
solutions that translate thereby at a relatively low share of added 
value in production value. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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