The recent study carried out by Eurostat on the trade sector in the EU countries contains the basic indices of employment and value added in the period of 2003 and 2005. They cover all the EU countries (EU-25/27) and several other ones. A benchmark for evaluation of those indices is a set of 5 sections of NACE Rev. 1.1 of a service nature. Trade stands out amongst them both in terms of high percentage of employment and dynamics of its growth, particularly in the SME sector. The indicators relating to Poland do not differ considerably from the mean value for the EU as a whole.