The war in Ukraine has not had a catastrophic effect on the French economic fabric, far from it. The findings of the report on “Employment and investment in 2022 in France”published Thursday, March 2 by Trendeo, are reassuring, including for the industrial sector, which began a slow recovery from 2016. The firm, which monitors the evolution and distribution of industries in the territory in real time, indicates that the development of this sector remains « positive ». Generally, “the 2020 crisis has been overcome well, better than in 2009”thanks to an unprecedented financial effort by the State.
If the pace of 2022 continues, analysts say, “We might recover in four years the losses of industrial sites accumulated since 2009”, which had marked the beginning of a new post-financial crisis bleeding. Provided that the public authorities continue their aid to emerging sectors (batteries, hydrogen, etc.), which the United States is doing with the Inflation Reduction Act endowed with 430 billion dollars (403 billion euros), of which 80% will go industries reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.
“Support remains necessary if we want to continue the reindustrialisation of our economy”, where the manufacturing sector weighs only 11% in the gross domestic product, warns David Cousquer, manager of Trendeo. But it is necessary, according to him, “targeting effort” on certain sectors so as not to deepen the debt and, ultimately, jeopardize the start of an industrial renaissance. In addition to the France 2030 plan in favor of innovative sectors, the government is continuing, in 2023, its policy of reducing production taxes, with the scheduled abolition of the contribution on the added value of companies.
80 new websites
After 123 net creations in 2021, Trendeo listed 80 new industrial sites in 2022, which reduces the cumulative losses since the terrible year 2009 to 343 (compared to 610 in 2015). This figure is modest, compared to the 260,000 industrial companies and their more numerous establishments. Although there were fewer openings than a year earlier, more industrial jobs were created, in particular by an increase in the number of positions per plant. New factories represent one in five creations, site extensions do the rest.
With 7.5 billion euros, the electronics-IT sector played an important role in 2022, in particular the manufacturer of microprocessors STMicroelectronics (microprocessors) and Verkor (automotive batteries), which launched large investments. The production and distribution of electricity and gas (+ 1.8 billion) and the chemical industry (+ 694 million) made strong progress. In total, 13 billion were injected into the factories, almost three times more than the previous year.
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