the essential
The Aveyron department is ramping up its attractiveness agency to promote the assets of its territory. Quality of life, low unemployment, settlement assistance services, relaunch of Rodez airport… Arnaud Viala, the president is sharpening his weapons.
If the Elysée organized its major exhibition of made in France last week, the department of Aveyron held the “Made in Aveyron” show at the end of September. More than 600 local companies are certified and offer 1,300 products made in Aveyron. This is one of the actions to increase the visibility of this rural department located 1 hour 45 minutes from the regional capital Toulouse.
The department has just celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Millau viaduct which completed the opening up of Aveyron to the Mediterranean axis. Its president Arnaud Viala now wants to move up a gear. Armed with his Aveyron Attractive Tourism Agency created in 2021, the city councilor came to Toulouse to present his action plan for entrepreneurs. A list of “12 good reasons to succeed in Aveyron” was presented with an unemployment rate of 5.5% (compared to 9% in Occitanie), 95.7% success in the Baccalaureate, very high speed everywhere , a diversified economy with more than 9,600 craft businesses, nearly 1 billion euros in export turnover, 1,639 business creations in 2023, affordable real estate…
“We find a school for the children, a job for the spouse”
A digital platform allows companies to post their job offers but the attractiveness agency has also set up a service which searches for accommodation for employees, a school for their children and even a job for the spouse! “We are also experimenting with the ‘RSA for work’ system. Thanks to close support for people who have been out of work since the beginning of 2023, 60% of new entrants to the system are successfully reintegrating,” says Arnaud Viala. The population of Aveyron is also on the rise: it has gained 16,000 inhabitants in twenty years to reach 279,500 people.
The airport takes off again
Since September, Rodez has been served by two airlines Volotea and Ryanair, with two daily flights to Paris and several European destinations. Historically a land of entrepreneurs, Aveyron is also an industrial basin and with mechanics and aeronautics, two sectors which concentrate 33% of industrial jobs in the department. Even if Bosch is going through difficulties and a few years after the closure of the SAM foundry, the departmental council wants to highlight local champions to attract new companies from Haute-Garonne to come and set up.
This is the case with the Finadorm Group (€250 million turnover including €100 million in Aveyron), one of the leaders in bedding (box springs, Dunlopillo mattresses, etc.). And Arnaud Viala concludes: “The Aveyronnais are reliable workers”. A quality appreciated by employers these days.
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