EUROPA - Introduction to the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering ...

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duction. These discrepancies suggest analysing the three sectors independently from
each other.
In the new Member States electrical engineering is bigger than mechanical engineering
and commands more than half the engineering sectors production. Domestic appliances
contributes roughly one tenth. In contrast, within the EU-15 there is a dominance of
mechanical engineering with a contribution of around two thirds, whereas electrical
engineering only comes up to 30% of total engineering industries output.
Since the mid 1990s the engineering industries enjoy - as many other manufacturing
industries - strong growth. In all of the three sectors rates varied between 6.0% for mechanical
and 15.7% for electrical engineering on average between 1995 and 2004. A
comparison with the EU-15 discloses a major gap in the growth momentum with only
1.6% for domestic appliances and 2.6% for both of the engineering sectors. However
employment record of the new Member States’ engineering sectors was even worse than
in the EU-15. The number of employees shrank during the period under investigation in
mechanical engineering and domestic appliances. Only in electrical engineering which
enjoyed the most dynamic upswing the number of workplaces grew. But this was not
sufficient for a positive balance for the engineering sectors as a whole. The enabler for
growth was labour productivity which improved much over time. No additional job opportunities
were provided (Table 2.3, Table2.4 for a comparison to the EU-15).