Small And Medium Enterprises Are Vital To The Economy

Small and Medium Enterprises, more commonly known as SMEs, are vital to the UK economy. With an employee count of between one and 249 employees, they contribute more than £2 trillion in turnover and employ over 44% of the British workforce ...

A recent study looked at the latest ONS and Government data to see which industries had the most Small And Medium Enterprises. Apparently, the hospitality industry came at the top with 69.8% being SMEs and the wholesale and retail trade came second with more than 48%. Real Estate came third.

Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing had a surprising number of SMEs with over 50,000 SMEs making up 33% of the 150,000 total businesses!

The study also looked at the UK regions and discovered that Northern Ireland had the most SMEs in the UK, with Scotland second. In England, the East Midlands is the most industrious area with 100,300 SMEs making up 27.3% of the 367,400 businesses in the area.

Regarding skills for entry-level positions, Microsoft Office proficiency is the most common request on job adverts appearing in 61% of the jobs analysed. High attention to detail, good time management and self-motivation also ranked highly.

With over 1.4 million British companies classed as Small and Medium Enterprises with a combined turnover of more than £2 trillion each year, it is essential they are given the support they need to grow and continue making such a significant economic contribution.

But conversely, we must also ensure the workforce is well trained to help Small And Medium Enterprises deliver and adapt to the challenges we're all facing right now.


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