IT and Communications Sector Expands Slightly, Productivity Down
Sales in the IT and communications companies grew by 3 percent to 1.46 billion euros in 2012, but productivity is down 11.8 percent as employee numbers escalate.
According to figures freshly released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, the industry employed 18,600 people at the end of last year, 2,000 more than a year earlier.
Over 3,000 companies are active in the sector, paying on average 1,432 euros before taxes per month, well above the national average of around 900 euros. The sector employs 3 percent of the total workforce.
In telecommunications, both the total minutes called and the number of text messages sent have grown significantly since the end of 2011, with the minutes called growing from 2.7 billion to 3.1 billion and the text message numbers from 273 million to 368 million.