Wales small enterprises: 10 to 49 employees
Wales small enterprises: 10 to 49 employees stood at 9,430 Number in 2025, according to StatsWales — Welsh Government open data. It is one of the indicators in the Business population table (Value · Annual), with a complete series running from 2003 to 2025. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Business population table
| Indicator | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of enterprises | |||||||||||
| Small (10 - 49 employees) | 9,430 | 9,280 | 9,545 | 9,475 | 9,185 | 9,370 | 9,485 | 9,365 | 9,265 | 9,095 | |
| Medium (50 - 249 employees) | 2,255 | 2,250 | 2,210 | 2,200 | 2,205 | 2,210 | 2,215 | 2,155 | 2,105 | 2,115 |
Understanding wales small enterprises: 10 to 49 employees
Tracking mid-sized commercial operations across Wales, this metric tallies enterprises that maintain a formal workforce sized strictly from ten up to forty-nine employees. This band bridges micro-firms and larger corporate structures, isolating mid-market companies that have moved past initial startup constraints but have not reached major employer thresholds. Unlike broad aggregates, this measure focuses specifically on businesses with established middle-management layers and structured internal labour administration.
Evaluating this segment demands caution regarding how workforce sizes are reported, as shifts in staffing levels can easily push a firm across threshold boundaries into adjacent brackets, creating artificial volatility. Annual comparisons offer a clearer view of structural stability than short-term readings, which can be distorted by seasonal recruitment cycles or administrative updates to payroll records. Analysts should verify whether structural breaks in tax administration procedures affect historical comparability when reviewing long-term series trends.
Frequently asked questions
- How is the employee threshold defined for this category?
- Enterprises must maintain a registered workforce size falling strictly within the bracket of ten to forty-nine employees.
- Can a business move between size brackets over time?
- Yes, natural recruitment or downsizing causes firms to cross thresholds, shifting them into different published categories.
- Why is annual comparison preferred over short-term readings?
- Annual evaluation smooths out seasonal staffing fluctuations and administrative timing differences in payroll reporting.