With 4340 companies on January 1st, 2003 the Bouches-du-Rhône département generates over 38% of the sector regional companies.

By then, companies employ 12115 staff members including 10390 employees which represents 41.6% of the sector regional employment.
During the 1999-2003 period the workforce of this sector has increased by nearly 10% with more than 1000 additional jobs.

• The textile industry gathers 128 firms and 719 jobs among which 679 wage-earners in 2003.
• The garment industry stabilizes on the département level :
  • We count 336 companies and 1560 jobs which represents 64% of the industrial company sector in the department .
  • Since 1999, if companies number have decreased by10%, employment has kept stable (-0.6).
  • At last, the Bouches-du- Rhône department concentrates the main part of the regional garnment industry activity with nearly 43% of regional companies set up in the Bouches-du-Rhône (42% in 1999) and 52.8% of jobs ( 49.3% in 1999) in 2003.
• The leather and shoe industry gathers in the Bouches-du-Rhône only 61 companies and 228 jobs.

Trade in the Bouches-du-Rhône is increasing.

• Since 1999 the wholesale has counted 13% of additional companies and 7% more jobs. Over half of the wholesale companies and half of the regional jobs in this sector are located in the Bouches-du-Rhône .
• Concerning the retail trade its growth follows globally in the département the growth of the region. Employment increased by 15% between 1999 and 2003, we count today around 7800 jobs.

See the companies improvement of the sector in Marseille in the Bouches-du-Rhône and in PACA (in French)

The field in the Bouches-du-Rhône

Marseilles represents the main pole of the region with 2385 companies and 6812 jobs including 5918 wage-earners.

Marseille represents the major regional pole of this sector: one companies out of five set up there, and over 23% of regional jobs of the sector are from Marseilles. The number of companies and the number of jobs in Marseille have increased during 1999-2003 period :

• Thus Marseille won during this period 28 additional companies (+1.2%) and its regional weight (in companies number) stabilized around 21%.
• Marseilles employment has for its part increased over 5% with 344 additional jobs.

An analysis by activity branch gives the following results :

• The garment industry (code NAF 17 –SIRENE) in Marseille :
  • It’s composed of 54 firms and gather 258 jobs including 245 wage-earners in January 2003.
  • Marseille represents 15% of regional jobs in this branch.
    
    
• The garment industry (code NAF 18) is the most developed. The garnment industry of Marseille is still dominating in comparison with the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur region.
  • With 225 companies and around 1186 jobs (including around 1100 wage-earners ), it constitutes the major industrial pole of Marseilles sector.
  • The situation of this industry is stable on the city scale. Thus, we should underline the decrease in local employment (+1.5) for this garment industry, between 1999 and 2003 though during the same period the national employment decreased by 23% in this industry.
  • Besides Marseilles has strengthened its regional position with over 40% of regional employment in 2003 for this garment activity, when it represented 36.7% in 1999. So with such a concentration , Marseilles sets apart in this activity
    
    
• The leather and shoe industry (code 19) keeps being modest in Marseille as to the region image.
  This industrial field is relatively modest in Marseille (26 firms ; 117 jobs): it represents 13% of companies and 20% of the regional jobs in the leather and shoe industry.
  
  
• The trade activities are dominating in Marseille. Marseille trade has known a slight improvement during the same period.
  • The wholesale sector ( code 51) constitutes a major pole in this sector for Marseilles city :
    With 483 companies, this activity has risen over 12% since 1999. This growth is proportionately bigger than the rest of PACA region where the number of wholesale companies has increased of about 9%.
    Besides, Marseilles concentrates 38% of wholesale companies of the region and 38% of jobs.
  • Concerning the retail trade (code 52), its growth is strong in Marseille.
    Employment has increased in a relatively important way (about 370 additional jobs in retail trade) that is to say a 10.3% growth between 1999 and 2003).
    In Marseille the retail trade represents more than 57% of textile and garment jobs.

From INSEE / Cabinet Brunhes for the IMM