The survey of aerospace industry over the past forty years

Aerospace has always played a special role in the Toulouse region. INSEE has shed light on this part of the economy by carrying out a regional survey of the aerospace industry (FAS) every year between 1983 and 2023. Its objective has remained the same over the past forty years : to determine the shape of this industry in the South-West and understand how it operates. From a statistical point of view, the survey is unique in that it is the only INSEE regional business survey to have been conducted over such a long period. The aim of this working paper is to summarise developments in the survey, with a view to building up coherent series over a long period of time. By tracing the forty years of the survey, it also aims to shed light on the problems inherent in carrying out a regional business survey and the successive choices made in response.

In 1983, let’s not forget, the Internet didn’t exist and IT had not yet been rolled out at INSEE. The fax machine was at the cutting edge of modernity. In forty years, the survey has undergone many changes, not just technological ones. Its geographical scope has expanded from the Midi-Pyrénées region to the Greater South-West. Its statistical scope has also expanded, moving from the concept of suppliers and subcontractors to that of the industry. The questionnaire has gradually been expanded to provide a better understanding of how the industry operates : activities, position in the supply chain, employment, customers, impact of the health crisis, environmental issues, etc. Progress has been made in correcting non-response. Finally, this survey has adapted to the many changes that have occurred in the statistical and economic ecosystem : accreditation by the National Council for Statistical Information (Cnis) from 2003, structuring of user consultation, partnership with the Aerospace Valley competitiveness cluster, switch to Internet data collection, changes in activity nomenclature and the changeover to the euro.