Insee Première · September 2022 · n° 1919

In the space sector in France, 1,650 diversified companies and about sixty pure-players

In 2020, in France, the 1,704 companies involved in the space sector employed 33,200 people specifically for their space activity. The turnover of this activity reached 10.8 billion euros.

About sixty companies exclusively active in space, known as pure-players, accounted for nearly three quarters of the revenues and half of the workforce of the space sector. The other companies had more diversified activities, in particular in aeronautics. Occitanie region accounted for more than a third of the space sector's workforce, which was also present in all the other regions of mainland France and in French Guiana.

In 2020, the space industry suffered the shock of the health crisis but to a lesser extent than aeronautics: the turnover of the space sector fell by 10% and the number of employees by 3%. Manufacturing activities suffered the decline, while services activities continued to grow. At the end of 2021, the workforce in establishments of the pure-players returned to its pre-crisis level.