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Cross-border
economic
development
32
Territory portraits: economic development on different borders
Economic fabric
Along the coast, apart from Monaco, economic activity mainly centres
on the “presential economy”, which alone provides 90% of jobs on
the French side of the border.
54
This is due to the particularly marked
focus of the region on tourism, and also to the number of retired people
settling in the area, who represent 30% of the population aged 15 or
over. This is 2 percentage points above the regional average and 6
percentage points higher than in comparable border areas.
55
On the
Italian side, the coastal area is home to an even higher percentage of
retired people (almost 32% of the whole Ligurian population
56
). The
Ligurian economy is however slightly more industrialised than that of
the Alpes-Maritimes Department (19% of jobs compared with 12.5%).
The economy is characterised by a strong prevalence of companies
specialising in horticulture-floriculture and permanent crops, particularly
in the province of Imperia (nearly 7,500 businesses in 2010
57
). Lastly,
many Italian craft enterprises operate on the French side of the border
54
Source: INSEE, “Zone d’emploi Menton-Vallée de la Roya” (“Menton-Roya Valley Employment
Area”), No. 40, February 2014.
55
Source: INSEE, “Zone d’emploi Menton-Vallée de la Roya”, op. cit.
56
Source: ISTAT, 2013.
57
Source: ISTAT, 2010.
(notably the building and landscaping sectors), in competition with their
French counterparts, but meeting deadlines more reliably and offering
more competitive rates.
The Principality of Monaco constitutes a very important services centre
(with only 6.6% of jobs in industry, representing 6.2% of GDP), including
the scientific and technological activities, administrative and support
services sector, which employs the largest number of people (21.8%).
58
As a percentage of GDP, this sector is also the largest (16.7%), along
with the financial and insurance sector (also 16.7%); real estate activities
come in third position (8.4%), followed by wholesale trade (8.3%).
59
The remainder of the border is characterised by economic activities
typical of a rural mountainous area: tourism (mainly in winter), but also
a network of SMEs (agri-food, cosmetics etc.). The maritime border
(Corsica and Sardinia) presents economic issues linked to tourism.
58
Source: IMSEE, 2013
59
Source: IMSEE, GDP 2013.