Foreign-owned businesses employed 2.2 million people in France in 2019

According to statistics published in December 2021 by the French National Institute for Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE), 16,800 firms were under foreign ownership in France in 2019, or 0.6% of the total number of businesses.

They employed 2.2 million people, accounting for 13% of the total workforce in the non-agricultural and non-financial market sectors. A total of 44% were in mid-size businesses and 41% in large firms.

Above all, these jobs were carried out in businesses under European ownership. The 28 countries of the European Union (including the United Kingdom) were responsible for 53% of employment in France under foreign ownership in 2019 and the United States was the leading source of foreign-owned jobs (512,000).

In businesses under foreign ownership, 32.4% of jobs depended on the industrial sector and 99% of them were concentrated in the manufacturing industry. Industry’s share of jobs varies depending on the origin of parent businesses, with Japanese, Italian, German and Swedish-owned businesses concentrating more than 40% of their jobs in industry.

They generated €173 billion of value added in France, or 17% of the value added of all businesses in France, in the non-agricultural and non-financial market sectors. In France, foreign-owned businesses generated value added of €64.9 billion in industry (22% of total value added for industry) in 2019.