The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on the net turnover and the number of employees in certain industries. Table 1 presents the industries with the highest as well as the lowest development in percentage terms, based on net turnover in the first year of the pandemic.

Many industries faced major challenges in economic terms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Travel restrictions led to financial challenges for travel agencies and tour operators, railways, and airlines. Net turnover fell by 61 percent among travel agencies and tour operators, by 54 percent for airlines, and by 36 percent for railways. Land-based passenger transport, including taxi operations, were also affected by the restrictions, and net turnover fell by 12 percent to SEK 77.7 billion and the number of employees decreased by 8 percent and amounted to 53 000 people.

Restrictions on public gatherings had a negative impact on enterprises in the industry for amusement and recreation activities. In this industry, net turnover fell by 48 percent to SEK 3.8 billion and the number of employees decreased by 31 percent to 3 000 people. The industry for creative, arts, and entertainment activities, such as theatres, concert halls, and concert organisers were also negatively affected, which led to a decrease of 28 percent in net turnover and a decrease of 5 percent in the number of employees.

Net turnover for hotels fell by 43 percent, while restaurants fared somewhat better with a decrease of 16 percent. Hotels employed 25 100 people, down by 26 percent, and restaurants employed 91 500 people, down by 10 percent, in 2020.

Net turnover in the industry for manufacturing of motor vehicles, that is, cars, lorries and so on fell by 20 percent to SEK 253 billion, and the industry for renting and leasing of motor vehicles, including passenger cars, fell by 13 percent to SEK 9.3 billion. The number of employees in these industries declined by 6 percent and 13 percent respectively. The decrease in the manufacture of motor vehicles can be explained in part by a lack of components.

Some industries prospered during the COVID-19 pandemic. The industries for digital trade and manufacturing of medical equipment noted the largest growth in terms of net turnover, which increased by 18 percent and 17 percent respectively in 2020. The number of employees also increased, by 9 percent to 18 200 people in digital trade, and by 2 percent to 6 600 people in the industry for manufacturing of medical equipment.

Veterinary clinics and stores for home decoration (incl. some digital trade), also noted a positive development and net turnover rose by 15 percent and 11 percent respectively. Plausible explanations for this development include the increasing number of people working from home during the pandemic, and the fact that many households took this opportunity to acquire a pet.

Just as the industry for the manufacture of medical equipment, the industry for the manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations, and the industry for other human health activities, which includes laboratories, have benefited from the increased pressure on public health services. These industries noted increases of 10 percent and 6 percent respectively in net turnover.

Moderate decrease in the business sector

In terms of the total business sector, net turnover decreased by 3.1 percent, and the number of employees by 2.5 percent in 2020. The number of employees decreased less than net income in percentage terms, which may be due to several different factors. The number of employees is often affected later than net turnover in the economic cycle. However, during the pandemic, government financial support such as short-time work allowance and reduced employer contributions helped enterprises retain their personnel longer than would have been possible without this support.

Table 2 shows the development and the variations between industries in the business sector on an aggregated level.

The industry with the largest decrease in net turnover in percentage terms was Arts, entertainment, recreation, and other service activities, which fell by 16 percent to SEK 108 billion, and in which the number of employees decreased by 5 percent to 64 100 people. The net turnover among enterprises in transportation, hotels and restaurants fell by 14 percent to SEK 587 billion, and number of employees decreased by 8 percent to 334 500 people.

According to the provisional data, the operating profit for the business sector in total decreased by 3.4 percent to SEK 653 billion and value added (the contribution to GDP) fell by 0.1 percent to SEK 2 770 billion in 2020 (see more under Definitions and explanations below).

Statistical databases

Further information is presented in Statistics Sweden’s databases available free of charge at Structural business statistics (scb.se). These databases contain data, by industry, on net turnover, value added, total assets, and number of employees. It is also possible to produce entire income statements and balance sheets for each industry.

The next statistical news in this series is scheduled for publication on 2022-05-04 at 08.00.