However, over 2000-2008, the increase in GDP value in the Paris Region was only 29%, which is equivalent to the level of the main German regions but less than the Amsterdam (+34%), Greater London (+43%), and Barcelona and Valencia (+56%) regions.

The increase in Paris Region activity was also much less job-rich than seen in the Barcelona and Valencia region or in the Milan region. Thus, in both Spain and Italy, the employment level grew only half as quickly as GDP.

In any event, the growth in Paris Region employment was the lowest of the major European regions between 2000 and 2008. In the service sector, salaried employment in the Paris Region increased by only 8% (compared to +13% in London and +41% in the Barcelona and Valencia region); at the same time, the decline in industrial employment (-16%) was the most significant.

This rapid decline in industrial employment confirms the Paris Region's specialisation in sectors with high added value, such as business services. Although this specialisation leads to strong growth in added value, the effects on employment are more limited. Thus, if the Paris Region had had the same employment momentum as metropolitan France overall for each business sector, salaried employment would have increased by 24% between 1990 and 2007; however, it grew by only 11% (compared to +22% outside the capital region). In particular, while the decline in industrial activities is common to all French regions, the vitality of employment and added value of the Paris Region's industry appears worse than outside the capital region. The sector's added value thus increased by 35% outside the capital region between 1990 and 2007 but only by 9% in the capital region. While the Paris Region remains France's top industrial region by far in terms of employment and added value, industry was less present in 2007 as a proportion in the region than in the rest of the country (10% of added value compared to 16% outside the capital region).

For more information:
« La croissance francilienne tirée par le tertiaire mais peu riche en emplois » [Paris Region growth driven by the service sector but lacking jobs], Enjeux Ile-de-France du Crocis no.137, of May 2011, in partnership with Insee Paris Region, Driea Paris Region and Direccte, study downloadable at www.crocis.ccip.fr