Catalan SMEs reduce the productivity gap with large companies

Catalan small and medium-sized enterprises are in good health. This is demonstrated by the latest edition of the Yearbook of the Catalan SME, prepared each year by the business association Pimec. According to the data in the document, presented by the organization this Monday, the smaller-sized companies in the Principality managed in 2024 to narrow the productivity gap that has historically separated them from larger businesses. According to the report, the country's small and medium-sized enterprises increased their productivity by 2.7%, to an average of 74,355 euros per employee; while large ones recorded a slight decline of 0.1% in the same year, to 93,405 euros per worker.

Despite the acceleration of the SME fabric, the distance is still considerable, but it is already below 20,000 euros. In relative terms, the distance has been reducing year after year: if in 2020 SMEs were 26% less productive than large companies, the gap remained at around 20% in 2024. It should be remembered that the yearbook is prepared with data from about 80,000 Catalan companies extracted from their accounts deposited in the Commercial Register, which explains the time lag regarding the presentation of the document.

The distance, it must be said, is still significant enough for Pimec to insist on "greatly increasing the measures that can increase the size of companies," in the words of the president of the SME Observatory, Oriol Amat. "As the size of companies increases, productivity increases," the economist insisted. In this sense, the president of the association, Antoni Cañete, has insisted on the demand to undertake a business growth law, which they had already conveyed to the Government. A regulation that, in his words, "is progressing adequately." The Minister of Business and Labor, Miquel Sàmper, present at the presentation, took up the gauntlet: "It is obvious that the growth of companies is a goal that we must have as a country".

Healthy accounts

The increase in the productive efficiency of companies was reflected in their income statements. In 2024, sales per company increased by 5.5%, while financial profitability remained high, above 12%. Turnover expectations, however, are slightly bearish: Pimec experts are moderating sales growth for both 2025 and 2026, leaving it at 4.5% and 4.2%, respectively. Amat attributes this business slowdown to the rise in energy prices and interest rate hikes linked to inflation control.

The good productive performance, in general terms, of Catalan SMEs has helped to further clean up their balance sheets. Data from the yearbook indicate that small and medium-sized enterprises have increased the weight of their own resources on net worth to 57% –that is, in Amat's words, "for every 100 euros a company invests, 57 are its own assets"–. This solvency improves the country's private sector capacity to withstand economic shocks and avoid the avalanche of closures that the country suffered following the 2008 crisis. Back then, Amat recalls, "companies were very undercapitalized, but today that is not the case".

Impact on salaries

Amat highlighted, within the document, the increase in gross value added (GVA, the total contribution to the economy of a company or sector) registered by Catalan SMEs in 2024, of 4.5% compared to the previous year. This magnitude, highlighted the president of the observatory, "is very important, because it is what allows paying salaries and making investments". In fact, according to the yearbook, salaries at the country's SMEs grew "at the pace of productivity", with an average expenditure increase per worker of 4.6% year-on-year.

Both magnitudes are comfortably above the year's inflation, which remained at 2.8%. This advantage means that "SME salaries are gaining purchasing power". Amat, however, tempers the euphoria, and indicates that there are items, such as housing or energy, that became more expensive than the average consumer price index, a fact that may have cooled the "feeling" of salary increase among employees.