” “Industry accounts for 37% of the Gross Domestic Product of the 25-member EU, while the building sector stops at 8%. These statistics come from Eurostat, which published today the new issue (updated to 2002) of "Imprese europee. Fatti e cifre", a statistic document that "gives a general picture of the structure, development and features of the EU companies" and their lines of business, "from energy and mining to communication". The survey (available on http://europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/) "provides information divided by productive sector, use, national speciality and regional distribution" in the 25 member states. "In terms of added value it reads the most important industrial branches were metallurgy (4.1% of the total), food, beverages and tobacco (3.9%), electric and optic appliances, chemicals, machinery". As to the average cost of labour, the lowest one was found "in the clothing industry, followed by the hotel and restaurant trade" (15 thousand euros a year), "while the highest one was that of the oil industry" (on average, 60 thousand euros a year). ” “
