An alternative measure of employment intensity

Abstract

The input output tables in Eurostat (1983) are used to infer the total employment generated by final demand in 41 NACE Sectors in each of the 8 EEC countries in 1975. Average employment intensities (AEI) are then calculated by dividing total generated employment in each sector by final demand. The results show a good deal of consistency and it is possible to identify sectors which had uniformly high and low AEIs in the EEC countries. The AEIs of the service sectors are compared with those of industry. In general there is no evidence that the marketed services had substantially higher AEIs. While the evidence on the public services is somewhat scanty, it would seem that the public services were more employment intensive than industry. Ireland is an exception in that all its service sectors were, in general, more employment intensive than industry.