The province of Modena stands out in the Italian industrial scene for its high entrepreneurial density: out of a population of over 639,000, there are over 64,000 industries, 1 for every 10 inhabitants. More than 12,000 of these belong to the agricultural sector, over 31,000 to the services sector and over 21,000 to the industrial sectors.
This characteristic is joined by yet another - the prevalence of small and medium-sized enterprises. The model of industrial development generated by areas has produced a high average income per capita, estimated at around 22,700 € in 1999.
Modena boasts a fairly low unemployment figure (2.7% in 2001 compared to the national average of 9.5% and regional of 3.8%). Another influential factor is the number of working women: 132,000 out of 305,000 employees.
The leading industrial sectors are: mechanicals sector scattered all over the territory and represented by 4,800 firms employing over 47,000 workers, followed by the textiles clothing sector with over 3,600 business concerns and approximately 18,000 workers, nearly half of which are located in the Carpi area.
The food industry has over 1,400 firms and over 10,000 workers; the ceramics sector, spread over the Sassuolo area, has 300 tile manufacturing firms which employ more 16,000 workers. The biomedical sector in the Mirandola area is made up of almost seventy firms, which employ approximately 3,700 workers.
The high degree globalization of modenese industry comes out from the evolution of the provincial exports, with a growing trend since 1992. In 2001 modenese exports reached 7,694 million €. On the whole this ammount account for almost 3% of the national export figure, placing Modena in seventh position in the ranking of Italian provinces and first in its own region
The most important economic sectors in terms of export figures are the engineering sector (including the vehicle industry) with 3.5 billion € in sales on foreign markets and the ceramics industry with over 2.1 billion €, followed by the textile clothing sector with over 826 million €.
As far as market outlets are concerned the European Union absorbs more than 51% of Modenese exports; in this area Germany represents the most important market, followed by France and the United Kingdom. Outside Europe the United States represent the most popular destination for Modenese products.
Another economic indicator that deserves particular attention is the industrial production rate, which shows, continuos increase until the first quarter of 2001. The second quarter of 2001 instead, it shows a continuos decrease and only in the fourth quarter of 2001 and in the second quarter of this year did it register positive trend.