On November 22, 2018, the government announced the list of 124 "industry territories", which will be eligible for specific support to strengthen their industrial specificity. As we have data on industrial job creation, in France, since 2009, we analyzed the list of 124 territories by positioning them among all French territories.The approach adopted consisted firstly in consolidating data for each of the 124 territories, to measure the share of industrial employment in local job creation since 2009. Next, we placed these 124 territories in the context of the whole of France (using a breakdown by employment zone), to see if any other highly industrialized territories had been overlooked in this initial selection. On the whole, the selection appears to be relevant and fairly complete, although some of the industrial regions selected are more proactive than others, and some areas would have deserved to be included.

Characteristics of 124 industry regions

As shown in the table below, the 124 industrial regions saw the creation of 135,163 industrial jobs between 2009 and 2018. This represents 57.6% of industrial job creations in France over the same period, while overall, these territories accounted for only 41.4% of job creations in all sectors combined. In fact, these areas have a strong industrial specificity, since, on average, 31.8% of job creations in these areas were due to industrial jobs, whereas areas not belonging to the 124 industrial areas only had an average rate of industrial job creations of 16.5%.Overall, the 124 industrial areas therefore have a very industrial profile, but in the details of the areas, positions vary greatly. Some areas - which have generally received few jobs - have very high industrial employment rates, as high as 93% for the Vosges saônoises. Others have both a high number of jobs in all sectors, and a high industrial employment rate (Cambraisis, Nord, Saint-Nazaire...)27 areas, on the other hand, have much lower industrial employment rates, even lower than the industrial employment average for areas outside the 124 industrial areas. For some areas, this situation may be due to the high presence of very small businesses (VSEs), whose jobs are less easy to observe and therefore less present in Trendeo data. Examples include Baie-Mahault, Bastia, Saint-André (La Réunion) and Gap-Tallard. In other areas, where the number of jobs in all sectors is high, the low proportion of industrial jobs may reflect deliberate decisions based on regional planning policies (Argenteuil, Grand Orly, Versailles-Saclay, Évry...).

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Note: the average share of industrial jobs in total job creation over the 2009-2018 period, at 22.8%, may seem abnormally higher than industry's share of French GDP (12.5%). This may be due to measurement problems linked to Trendeo's data collection methodology (for example, the fact that industrial jobs are easier to spot through the press, as they emanate from larger companies). Above all, readers should bear in mind that the data presented here relate only to job creations, not to net creations. Industrial job losses over the 2009-2018 period were far greater than job creations (more than 120,000 net jobs lost), corresponding to a decline in the share of industrial jobs in the French economy's employment stock.

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Number and share of industrial jobs in job creation, all sectors combined, in the 124 industrial territories and the rest of France, 2009-2018. Trendeo data, employment and investment observatory.

Shown in blue are industrial areas where the share of industrial jobs is higher than the average for all industrial areas (31.8%), in grey are industrial areas where the share of industrial jobs is lower than the average for industrial areas (31.8%) but higher than the average for the rest of France (16.5%), and in orange are industrial areas where the share of industrial jobs is lower than the average for non-industrial areas (16.5%).

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The 124 industrial territories and the others

An analysis of the 124 industrial regions shows that, overall, those selected form a group of regions with particularly strong industrial dynamism. It remains to be seen whether other territories, just as dynamic in terms of industrial employment, have not been overlooked in this list. To do this, we have added to the list of 124 industrial territories the 83 employment zones (out of 322 employment zones in France) for which no commune has been included in one of the 124 territories (this leaves the case, which would require very detailed work, of communes included in employment zones where there is at least one commune belonging to an industrial territory, but not belonging to an industrial territory. These communes account for 20% of industrial jobs created in France from 2009 to 2018). The list of the top 50 zones, whether industrial territories or not, that created the most industrial jobs in France from 2009 to 2018 (45% of total industrial jobs created), shows that there are 43 industrial territories and 7 employment zones where no commune is an industrial territory. The first of these zones, Besançon, is in ^18th position. Among these employment zones that are not industrial territories, there are two cases:

• employment zones where industrial job creation was high, but low in relation to total job creation (e.g. Lille, ^34th zone for industrial job creation, with 1,385 industrial jobs, but where these industrial jobs represent only 4.4% of total job creation);

• employment zones that may be considered forgotten, or that could merit inclusion as an industrial area in a complementary list. One example is Besançon, which ranks ^18th in terms of industrial job creation, with 47% of new jobs created between 2009 and 2018 coming from industry.

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Further analysis could therefore lead to a review of the inclusion of certain areas in the list, which seems too proactive, or, conversely, to the inclusion of certain areas that have been overlooked. Even more detailed analyses would be required to work on the communal breakdown of the 124 territories (in order to identify "industrial" communes bordering the 124 selected zones). Overall, the industrial territories do indeed form a group of particularly dynamic territories in terms of industrial job creation.

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