On Tuesday 22nd October 2024, the European Observatoire of Sport and Employment (EOSE) held its annual online European Workshop entitled “Latest Statistics on Sport Employment: Realities, Challenges and Tendencies” for international sport network organisations.
This annual meeting, held for the seventh consecutive year, aimed to share and provide insights into sport employment trends in Europe from 2011 to 2023, and gather key European sport stakeholders’ feedback. The workshop was led by EOSE’s Executive Director, Aurélien Favre, Geoff Carroll (Director of Skills Development), and Wojciech Waśniewski (Projects and Research Coordinator), who presented the overall sport employment realities and trends for the period from 2011 to 2023.
Together with EOSE, seven other sport networks attended the workshop:
- European Olympic Committees EU Office (EOC EU Office)
- International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA)
- ENGSO Youth
- European Association of Sport Employers (EASE)
- European Association of Sport Management (EASM)
- European Network of Outdoor Sports (ENOS)
- International Platform on Sport and Development (sportanddev)
In the workshop, participants previewed the latest 2023 statistics, which will be published in December 2024 in the updated European Research Report on Sport and Physical Activity Employment Statistics and accessible EU and National Sport Employment Fact Sheets. The statistics are sourced from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, and National Statistics Offices, then compiled, analysed, and presented by EOSE staff. These documents, produced every year, provide a detailed and up-to-date understanding of sport employment at both the European and national levels. Previous reports and fact sheets are accessible on EOSE website.
SPORT EMPLOYMENT IN 2023 – A SAMPLE OF CHARACTERISTICS
The latest data from 2023 shows that:
- Sport employment in the EU+UK now represents 1 958 467 workers and this has grown by 32.3% from 2011 to 2023.
- The sport sector is taking up a growing share (0.84%) of total employment in all sectors, but there are also some substantial disparities between countries.
- The workforce skews more male than female (55% versus 45%).
- There is a steep rise in the proportion of young workers under 25 in the sector, as well as a corresponding rise of workers with low qualifications level.
- In sport, we can see a lower proportion of workers aged 50 and over compared to the overall EU+UK employment.
- Compared to the broader EU+UK employment, sport employees are also more likely to:
- have higher qualifications,
- work part-time, and
- be self-employed.
This year’s data marks another improvement in the available data, as for the first time EOSE is able to provide detailed statistics on gender and age distribution within employment categories, such as full-time versus part-time, and employed versus self-employed. This, for example, has shown that:
- Women are significantly more likely to hold part-time positions in the sport sector (50% with part-time contracts in 2023) than men (33.5%)
- 50% of self-employed people in the sport sector are aged over 40 years old.
An area of focus of the presentation was the sector’s recovery following the pandemic – comparing sport employment situation in 2023 compared to 2019, before the pandemic, and 2020, when the impact of the pandemic on sport employment was clearly seen. The sector in general seems to have recovered from the pandemic in terms of the number of workers – however, there are still 10 countries with lower total numbers of sport workers in 2023 compared to 2019. Detailed information about the recovery until 2022 can be found in the 2022 European Research Report.
While presenting the findings, the workshop participants engaged in a rich discussion, sharing feedback raising a variety of questions and highlighting important issues around the employment data, e.g. ensuring the data accurately reflects the full scope of the sport and recreation sector, including emerging areas like esports. Participants agreed that the research findings match their experiences of the sector, however some were surprised about the rate of post-COVID recovery.
The meeting was a productive chance for key stakeholders from the sector to interact, share experience, give feedback on data, and identify priority actions. Moving forward, EOSE remains committed to facilitating collaboration across the European sport sector and to deepening the collective understanding of sport employment trends and challenges.
Detailed statistics about sport employment in 2023 will be made available in the coming months through the publication of a European Research Report on sport employment as well as a European Fact Sheet and 28 National Fact Sheets gathering the key findings in an accessible, easy to read format.
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