EU-27: steel industry employment 2022

Germany was the greatest employer within the European steel industry. A total of 80,200 people were employed in the German steel sector in 2022, making it over two and a half times the size of its nearest competitor – Italy.
A year earlier, the European Union (EU) made up only 7.2 percent of global crude steel production, whereas China – as the world’s largest producer – was 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 37 percent of all steel used in 2022. This put it ahead of the automotive and mechanical engineering industries. In total, the EU had produced just under 136.4 million metric tons of crude steel in 2022.

European steel industry employment

Across all EU-27 countries, steel industry employment reached 305,599 people in 2022. This was lower than the figures recorded in the previous year, marking a new decrease in the employment sector. The reduction in steel consumption was attributed to the persistent impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war between Russia and Ukraine, and the global energy crisis on the steel and metal industry, particularly in the automotive sector.