‘The True Impact of UK Manufacturing’, unveiled at MACH 2024 in Birmingham, shows industry is worth £518 billion and supports 7.3 million UK jobs directly and across the supply chains/communities it operates in.
That is nearly a quarter of total GDP (23%) and is far bigger than the direct contribution of 8.2% that is usually quoted by economists.
The report was produced by Oxford Economics and the Manufacturing Technologies Association (MTA) and shows that ‘making things’ accounts for 34.5% of all UK goods and services exports.
An impressive set of findings when you consider the sector has had to navigate an extremely challenging period what with Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic, increases in energy costs and global supply chain fragility.
The report was intended to take a ‘deeper’ look at the direct, indirect and induced impacts of manufacturing and certainly makes for interesting reading.
According to the MTA’s Chief Executive Officer, James Selka the sector must now build on the report’s finding and explore better ways of addressing the skills shortage and develop successful programmes, such as the High Value Manufacturing Catapult Centres, to better commercialise ideas and innovations born in the UK.
At the very least this report demonstrates the importance of manufacturing to the UK economy and the need to build on the recent Advanced Manufacturing Plan in cultivating the new technologies and industries of the future.
