Specific socio-occupational patterns in French regions

The 2007 population census put the labour force of metropolitan France (mainland + Corsica) at 29 million people aged 15 and over. They can be classified into six social groups, unevenly distributed across the country. The main disparities concern farm owners and farm labourers, who are more represented in western regions than in eastern ones. The other broad categories of self-employed-craft workers, retailers, and other professions-are more present in the southern half of France. Management-level workers are concentrated most heavily in the Paris Region. This is particularly true of young managers and managers with an educational attainment below the baccalauréat plus two years of higher education.