France and Germany are the core countries of the European union. Both are the steering wheel and engine for the European integration. Both countries are connected with a long history of rivalry. However, since the end of world war two the French-German friendship continues to build and grow. Nevertheless, France and Germany are different in many aspects – ranging from the location and size of the country, to administrative organisation and to cultural and social differences.

In this paper we concentrate on the economic similarities and differences between both countries. We aim to exercise a quantitative analysis on the comparison of the sectoral structure between France and Germany. Different purposes shall be met:

1. Development of a set of indicator which allows to fastly pinpoint similarities and differences between these two economies on sectoral level.

2. The set of indicator shall be universally applicable for different economies and different sectors.

3. The indicator shall be discussed and tested on the example of the logistic and e-commerce sector in France and Germany.

4. The indicator shall be a mix on data on sectoral and occupational level.

The study builds on different datasets (Input-output tables, national accounts, labour surveys etc.) and uses mainly the methods of input-output-analysis to distinguish sectoral differences.