The shift towards a service economy is a
long-term trend already observed in the EU in the second half of the
20th century.
In 2018, employment in services accounted for 74 % of
total employment in the EU compared with 66 % in 2000, while employment
in industry decreased from 26 % in 2000 to 22 % in 2018 and agriculture
halved from 8 % to 4 %.
As regards value added, services generated 73 %
of total value added in 2018, industry 25 % and agriculture 2 %.
Among
the Member States, the share of agricultural employment in 2018 was the
highest in Romania (23 % of total employment), Bulgaria (18 %), Greece
(11 %) and Poland (10 %), while the highest shares for industrial
employment were observed in Czechia (37 %), Slovakia (32 %), Poland (31
%), Romania and Slovenia (both 30 %).
Service activities represented 80 %
of total employment or just over in the Netherlands, the United
Kingdom, Belgium, Malta, France, Luxembourg and Denmark.
