16,900 foreign-owned businesses in France in 2020

According to December 2022 statistics published by INSEE, in 2020, 16,900 businesses were foreign owned in France (16,800 in 2019).

They employ 2.1 million people in France, accounting for 12% of the total workforce in the non-agricultural and non-financial market sectors. Forty-six percent of employees work for mid-size companies (ETI) and 38% for large corporates.

Following the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union (EU), more than half of the jobs in France under foreign ownership rely on countries outside the EU (52%). The United States is the top country of origin for foreign-owned jobs, with 461,600 jobs. They are followed by Germany with 341,500 jobs and Switzerland with 249,600 jobs. Four other countries, namely the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium and Japan, each exceed 100,000 jobs.

One in three jobs under foreign ownership is in industry

In foreign-owned businesses, 34% of jobs depend on the industrial sector, with 99% of them in the manufacturing industry. The share of industry in the total number of jobs varies according to the origin of the parent companies; the businesses controlling more than 50,000 jobs in France, all sectors combined under Japanese, Italian and German ownership, have more than 40% of their jobs in industry. Furthermore, businesses owned by the United States employ 34% of their workforce there. Foreign groups are also very present in the business services (including temporary work) and trade sectors, with 13% of all jobs under foreign ownership are in the temporary work sector. The three main agencies present in France (Adecco, Manpower and Randstad) are from overseas.

€159 billion in value added in France

Firms under foreign ownership earn €159 billion in value added in France, i.e. 17% of the value added of all businesses in France, in the non-agricultural and non-financial market sectors.

A quarter of investments are German

Firms owned by EU member countries account for 60% of the investments made on French soil by businesses under foreign ownership. Those under German control make a quarter of all foreign investment in France.