Amsterdam, Netherlands - SEO Economisch Onderzoek

companies, compared to the Dutch average of 64.6%. Except for Hilversum, all selectedmunicipalities from the metropolitan region have a higher percentage of employees working formedium-sized companies than the Dutch average. Particularly in Amsterdam many people areworking for the somewhat larger companies.Table 1-4: Ownership structure companies by number of workers per business0-5 5-10 10-100 >100Agglomeratie 81.3% 8.9% 9.0% 0.9%HaarlemZaanstreek 83.9% 8.0% 7.5% 0.6%Groot-80.2% 9.1% 10.0% 0.7%AmsterdamAmsterdam 81.3% 8.7% 9.0% 0.9%Overig Groot- 82.1% 8.5% 8.5% 0.9%AmsterdamHet Gooi en 79.7% 9.3% 9.9% 1.0%VechtstreekNetherlands 84.2% 7.7% 7.2% 0.8%Source: Statistics Netherlands Statline (2006c)Table 1-5: Employees by size of business (%)1 2-10 10-50 >50Almere 1.3% 8.8% 19.0% 70.9%Amstelveen 2.7% 10.7% 18.3% 68.3%Amsterdam 2.1% 9.5% 17.0% 71.4%Haarlem 1.8% 10.3% 19.3% 68.6%Haarlemmermeer 2.0% 11.0% 21.1% 65.9%Hilversum 2.6% 12.7% 21.0% 63.7%Purmerend 1.4% 10.4% 20.0% 68.5%Velsen 1.7% 11.7% 20.7% 65.9%Zaanstad 1.6% 10.3% 20.1% 68.1%Netherlands 1.9% 11.5% 22.0% 64.6%Source: Statistics Netherlands Statline (2005a)1.4.2 Research & developmentTable 1-6 shows the R&D expenditures in the province of Noord-Holland (which includes theAmsterdam metropolitan area) and the Netherlands. Data on the level of the metropolitan regionwere not available, so the province of Noord-Holland is used instead. The data indicate that R&Dexpenditures in Noord-Holland are below the national average for companies but above thenational average for research-institutions. The aggregated R&D expenditures for Noord-Hollandadd up to approximately 1.38% of the regional domestic product (compared to 1.72% nationwide).It should be noted that, in the estimation of R&D expenditures of universities in Noord-Holland, the ratio of R&D expenditures to the regional product is calculated for the year 2002,since more recent data are not available. What appears is that the lower fraction of GDP spent onR&D in Noord-Holland is not caused by the government sector and HEIs, but by the businesssector. In terms of R&D-investment, HEIs in Noord-Holland are not far behind other institutionsin the Netherlands and regional and local governments are even performing better than those inother parts of the Netherlands. Other indicators also give an ambiguous picture of the innovativestrength of Noord-Holland in comparison with the Netherlands as a whole. The employment in23