Small Versus Large Firms Employment Patterns in Finland: a Comparison.

In this paper, we use monthly employment data of Finnish firms to examine the differences in the employment behavior between big and small enterprises. In particular, we investigate which size class of firms has been growing more, which one has been the driver of net job creation and finally which type of enterprise has been more procyclical. In line with previous literature, we utilize various definitions to include a firm inside the small or large category, and consider both one dataset including entry and exit and one including only long-lasting firms. We find that small firms have shown higher growth rates, on average, and that they have been the driver of employment creation. Finally, we find that large firms are more procyclical than small enterprises, especially during economic contractions