Portugal amongst top 3 fastest growing knowledge economies of Europe

• 19 December, 23

Portugal has an impressive growth of brain business jobs, after Lithuania and Cyprus the fastest growth of all Europe.

According to ECEPR, Since 2014, the share of adults employed in brain business jobs in Portugal has increased by an impressive 61%. Alongside Lithuania and Cyprus, with 62% growth rate, this is the highest in all of Europe. As comparison the rate of growth has been 36% in Spain, 16% in the UK and 9% in France.

The index by ECEPR, with support from Nordic Capital, measures the share of the working-age population across Europe employed in highly knowledge-intensive enterprises, in 31 countries and 277 regions.

“The brain business jobs of Europe are increasingly growing in Southern and Eastern Europe. The capital regions of Southern Europe, including France, have 600,000 more brain business jobs than the Western European capital regions. Eastern European capital regions have twice as many brain business jobs compared to the Nordic capital regions”, explains Nima Sanandaji, director of ECEPR.

Klas Tikkanen, chief operating officer at Nordic Capital Advisors, adds, “There is a general trend in Europe in which those countries that have experienced the strongest growth of brain business jobs, per capita, tend to be those that have lower tax levels as share of GDP. Just above a third of the variation of growth rate in these knowledge-intensive jobs can be explained in the variance in the tax level. Competitive taxes are a key ingredient in fostering knowledge-intensive jobs growth”.

IT and communications particularly strong in Portugal

Out of the working-age population in Portugal, 1.6 percent are employed in the tech sector. Additionally, 2 percent work in IT and communications (ICT), while 1.7 percent are employed in advanced services and 0.9 percent in creative professions. In total 6.1 percent of adults in Portugal are employed in brain business jobs.

Cre: Portugalnews