Crafts were “the champion” of entrepreneurship in 2022, with a 7% increase in business creations in this sector, the ISM-MAAF barometer noted on Wednesday. Thus, one in four businesses that opened last year in France was artisanal and the number of creations of artisanal businesses, in a general context of slowdown in business creations, exceeded 250,000 for the first time. Île-de-France, which ended 2021 with a 4% drop in the creation of craft businesses, saw a clear increase in 2022 (13%), in particular thanks to the resumption of taxi and VTC registrations. On the other hand, more than twenty departments show a decline in creations, particularly in Normandy, Burgundy-Franche-Comté, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes or Occitanie, with a record drop of 15% in the Lozère department.
While crafts include more than 300 activities, half of new businesses are concentrated in ten sectors, which relate to construction (93,620 creations in 2022) and services (109,760 creations), observes the study. Building cleaning (26%, 32,490 creations) is the leading installation sector in almost all metropolitan departments, with the exception of Île-de-France, where taxis/VTCs prevail. It is followed by beauty care, where 15,820 new craft businesses were created (19%) and general masonry (14,330 creations but only 1%). Among the sectors which recorded the largest increases in creations, but with much fewer companies, we observe meat cannery (160% for 713 creations), followed by drone repair (88% with 113 installations) and textile finishing (50% for 396 creations). Establishments in crafts are more common in rural areas, with one in three businesses created in this field, than in Paris (one in seven establishments).
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Micro-enterprises represent 65% of installations, with 10% opening in 2022, compared to 4% for “classic” artisanal entrepreneurship. Crafts include companies with no more than 10 employees carrying out a craft activity appearing on the list established by the Council of State. But the choice for the micro-enterprise formula is often made at home in parallel with another salaried position. The average income generated annually by these micro-entrepreneurs is in fact modest, 6,810 euros, compared to 26,035 euros for other artisanal businesses: these micro-enterprise projects are therefore often “less viable and less sustainable”, observes Catherine Elie, director of studies at the Higher Institute of Trades (ISM). This barometer, published four times a year, is produced by the ISM, with the support of the insurer MAAF, based on national data files.
