The Comité Colbert has teamed up with the Institut pour les savoir-faire français to measure for the first time the economic weight of companies in the crafts and exceptional French know-how.
A major first in the confidential and fragmented world of luxury crafts, the Institut pour les savoir-faire français has carried out a nationwide study of French crafts. The study was carried out in collaboration with the French luxury goods representative body, the Comité Colbert, the French Ministry of Culture, the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation and Terre & Fils, with technical support from Xerfi.
Les Éclaireurs’study “Measuring the economic weight of companies in the crafts and exceptional know-how ” identified 234,000 companies in this sector, representing 500,000 active professionals in France.
With sales of 68 billion euros, this sector is a major contributor to the national economy, even surpassing the pharmaceutical sector.
A wide variety of companies
French crafts and exceptional skills – key partners of the major French luxury brands – represent half a million workers, including 280,000 salaried employees. They are the backbone of 198 recognized crafts and 83 listed specialties.
Until now, however, the absence of reliable data has severely hampered the visibility of these trades, while professionals have struggled to convince potential investors.
Les Éclaireurs’ study “Mesurer le poids économique des entreprises des métiers d’art et savoir-faire d’exception” lifts the veil on an exceptional craft industry, which appears to be a major yet little-known contributor to the national economy.
These “métiers d’art et savoir-faire d’exception” are defined as production, creation or heritage restoration activities, whose core business is the mastery of gestures and techniques enabling the transformation of materials.
For the purposes of the survey, two types of company were identified: those in which the craft is at the heart of the activity, and which remain the largest source of employment (165,000 employees), and those in which the craft is above all a value-added activity. The latter have a greater economic weight (36 billion euros in sales) than companies whose craft is at the heart of their activity, but also represent the country’s main economic fabric, with a network of 119,300 companies.
More than half of these companies (53.5%) are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), with a strong presence of micro-businesses (i.e. structures with fewer than 10 employees). Very large companies account for just 4.9%.
While most of these companies are engaged in manufacturing activities (27%), they are not the only providers of jobs. Indeed, 18.5% operate in the performing arts and recreation sector, and 11.5% in construction and building.
An economic powerhouse in the regions
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Read also > [INTERVIEW] Bénédicte Epinay (Comité Colbert) “Luxury is the oldest sector with a future”.
Featured Photo: © Atelier Mériguet-Carrère
