EU-28 countries which employ the most people in the steel industries 2018

Germany was the greatest employer within the European steel industry. A total of 84,230 people were employed in the German steel sector in 2018, making it 2.5 times the size of its nearest competitor – Italy.
That same year, the European Union (EU) made up only 9.3 percent of global crude steel production, whereas China – as the world’s largest producer – is responsible for over half of steel output alone. Cheap pricing and heavily increased manufacturing levels have made the industry particularly competitive.

Steel destinations

The construction sector was the greatest recipient of steel produced in the EU in 2017. Heavily reliant on the alloy metal for the assembly and maintenance of infrastructure projects, it accounted for 35 percent of all steel used. This put it ahead of the automotive and mechanical engineering industries. In total, the EU had produced some 168.3 million metric tons of crude steel in 2017.

European steel industry employment

Across all EU-28 countries, steel industry employment reached 329,648 people in 2018. This was still lower than the figures recorded at the beginning of the reporting period, but the second consecutive year that numbers increased. The positive trend is indicative of a growing demand for steel.