Top location for manufacturers and suppliers

The economy of North Rhine-Westphalia comprises a mixture of large corporations and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). With 723,000 SMEs, this segment provides about 68 percent of all jobs and generates 42 percent of the gross value added.

At the same time, 25 of the 50 German companies with the highest sales are based in NRW, including E.ON, Metro, Deutsche Post World Net, Deutsche Telekom, Thyssen Krupp, Rewe, RWE, Deutsche BP, Bayer and Bertelsmann.

NRW is the most important industrial location in Germany. 19.7 percent of gainfully employed people in North Rhine-Westphalia work in the manufacturing industry.

Sales according to sectors in 2007 (in EUR bn)

Source: LDS NRW, Stat. Bundesamt

Chemicals (incl. pharmaceuticals): NRW is Germany's most important location for the chemical industry. As a chemical location, NRW ranks 5th in the EU and 11th in the world in terms of sales. In 2007, the NRW share of annual German sales was 31.6 percent. The number of people employed in this industry was more than 107,000 (24.3 percent share of German total). The number of NRW companies was more than 470. The major chemical companies include Bayer, Lanxess, Evonik Industries, Henkel, and Cognis.

Mechanical engineering: The biggest industrial employer in NRW is mechanical engineering with junst under 219,000 employees (21.8 percent share of German total). Important mechanical engineering companies include ThyssenKrupp, GEA, and SMS. In 2007, the around 1,700 companies in NRW accounted for 22.6 percent of annual sales in Germany.

Metal production and processing: NRW is Germany's leading steel producer. In 2007, more than 460 companies with about 111,500 employees generated sales of EUR 47.5 billion. This means that NRW accounts for almost half of German steel sales. Germany is the largest steel producer in Europe. Important steel companies include ThyssenKrupp, Benteler, and Hydro Aluminium Deutschland.

Strong industry offers good environment for service providers

Nowhere else in Germany do industry-related service providers (e.g. consultancies, engineering offices, EDP, R&D) – many of which are business partners to industrial companies – contribute so much to innovation and value added as in North Rhine-Westphalia. The strength of industry in NRW is due in no small measure to the strength of these industry-related service providers.

Nearly 30 percent of the sales generated in the narrower sense by industry-related service providers in Germany comes from North Rhine-Westphalia – more than in any other state. The same is true of employment: 28.0 percent of all people employed in industry-related services in Germany work in NRW. Nearly 24.0 percent of the companies from the associated economic sectors are also located here.

Structural change: In 1970, 55.7 percent of the state's gross value added was generated in industry and only 42.3 percent in the service sector. By 2007, this ratio had been more than reversed: the service sector dominated in North Rhine-Westphalia with 69.4 percent as compared to industry with 30.0 percent.

Sources: LDS NRW, Stat. Bundesamt

The number of people employed in the production sector decreased between 1970 and 2006 from 3.8 to 1.7 million. In the service sector, the figure grew by more than a million to 6.4 million.

The biggest service providers include: Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Post, Deutsche Lufthansa, Bertelsmann, and Vodafone D2.