The impact of the recession on different sized firms A view from the microdata

This article uses quarterly data on turnover to analyse the performance of small, medium and large firms between 2001 and 2009. The analysis draws on two firmlevel datasets which are the Monthly Inquiry into Distribution and Services Sector MIDSS and the Monthly Production Inquiry MPI. For the services sector, it is found that small firms were hardest hit by the downturn, followed by mediumsized firms, which in turn have done worse than large firms. For the manufacturing sector the opposite results were reported. The turnover of large firms fell the most, followed by mediumsized firms, with smaller firms contracting the least. In both the services and production sector, volatility in turnover has increased during the sample period and in the run up to the recession a reflection of greater price and output fluctuations in the last three years.