Make UK and BDO’s Annual Manufacturing Outlook Report shows that in the twelve months to March 2024, the number of manufacturing jobs in Wales increased by 13,000, 10,000 in Scotland and 2,000 in Northern Ireland.
Every English region saw a fall in manufacturing jobs in the same period, with the East of England being the only region showing a slight rise. Consequently, the sector saw an overall fall of 34,000 jobs in the twelve months to March.
According to Make UK, the increase in Scotland is likely to have been driven by renewables investment, while Wales has a significant supply chain in the aerospace and defence sectors.
Finding skilled workers remains challenging as 64,000 vacancies remain in the sector, which accounts around £6bn in lost output according to Make UK analysis. Subsequently, Make UK is urging the new government to make tackling skill shortages and reforming the technical education system the centrepiece of its industrial strategy.
In a statement, Verity Davidge, director of policy for Make UK, said: “The new government has made a welcome bold statement of its intent to tackle the UK’s anaemic growth at national and regional level. It should now back this with a radical, cross government, long-term industrial strategy which has the need to tackle the UK’s skills crisis at its heart. This should be allied with the local growth strategies and priorities of each region, including infrastructure and innovation, together with other measures to ensure the UK is now fully open for business.”
The report also analyses the growth in output across each nation and region over the last decade, as well a comparison between pre and post-pandemic levels.
It shows that every English region bar one has shown double digit growth in Gross Value Added (GVA) since 2013. Yorkshire & Humber has seen the best growth in output in that period (40 per cent), followed by the North East (30 per cent), and South West (27 per cent). This compares to the average growth in manufacturing GVA across the UK overall in the same period of around 23 per cent.
The report also highlights the importance of manufacturing to regional economies with every area in the UK, except for the South East & London, seeing an above average contribution from manufacturing to its local economy.