EU-28: steel industry employment 2019

Germany was the greatest employer within the European steel industry. A total of 86,000 people were employed in the German steel sector in 2019, making it nearly three times the size of its nearest competitor – Italy.
That same year, the European Union (EU) made up only 8.5 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. Heavily reliant on the alloy metal for the assembly and maintenance of infrastructure projects, it accounted for 35 percent of all steel used in 2019. This put it ahead of the automotive and mechanical engineering industries. In total, the EU had produced some 168 million metric tons of crude steel in 2018.

European steel industry employment

Across all EU-28 countries, steel industry employment reached 330,523 people in 2019. This was still lower than the figures recorded at the beginning of the reporting period, but the third consecutive year that numbers increased. The positive trend is indicative of a growing demand for steel.