Jobs in Britain’s manufacturing sector have been slashed by an average of 60% since 1979.
Back then, manufacturing accounted for 25% of all jobs in Britain, but today the figure stands at merely 8%.
Over the course of those 35 years, many low skilled jobs have been outsourced to companies in countries with lower wages, such as China.
Another factor in the decline is the use of machines instead of humans on production lines.
While textile industry jobs were diminished by a whopping 80%, posts in the wood and paper industry lost just 40%.
As a result, the jobs still going in manufacturing are all the more likely to be ones requiring higher skills, according to the Office for National Statistics report ‘Changing Shape of UK Manufacturing’.
But manufacturing has prospered despite, or perhaps because of, the changes. Labour productivity was measured as a rising 2.8% each year since 1948, with oil, gas, pharmaceutical and tobacco proving the most productive in output.
Comments
The lack of manufacturing base means of course that Britain must look to other sectors for natural advantage and national income. I suppose it is the banks and the City which offer the best returns in invisible earnings, which is why they are let off so lightly when they misbehave; and why they get (I did not say earn) such large bonuses.