New analysis by EEF and Santander dismisses manufacturing pay myths

UK manufacturing contributes to the UK economy beyond the sum of its sub-sector parts according to an annual snapshot of the sector published by EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation and Santander.

The report says, in particular, ‘UK Manufacturing: 2018/19 The Facts’ smashes the continuing myth that manufacturing jobs are badly paid with the average salary in manufacturing sitting at £32.5k.

This compares to £29k for the economy overall and 28.3k for services.

Every manufacturing sub-sector also has higher average salaries than the service sector, apart from food and drink, with the highest being the high skill Transport sector at £39.8k.

Overall manufacturing is up 3.1 per cent compared to 2.4 per cent for the economy and services.

The analysis by EEF and Santander also highlights the shifting sub-sector mix of UK manufacturing with Transport overtaking Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals to claim the top spot on R&D.

Export performance remains strong according to the analysis, with manufacturing accounting for 45 per cent of UK exports.

According to EEF this highlights the vital need to ensure there is minimal disruption to trade with the EU after Brexit.

By Region the North West is the biggest single Region by output, as well as being the Region seeing the biggest growth in output since the 2017/18 fact card, up to £26.9bn from £24.2bn.

Lee Hopley, Chief Economist at EEF, said: “It provides an important reminder that we’re still one of the top ten biggest manufacturing nations and we want to see policy makers working with industry to help move UK manufacturing up the rankings.”