Manufacturing - where have all the jobs gone?

Thousands of jobs are under threat in the car industry, with BMW's break-up of Rover, and in the clothing industry as retailers like Marks and Spencer cancel orders with manufacturers. Backup takes a look at what is left of UK manufacturing.

Employment in manufacturing fell to four million in January this year - 122,000 fewer jobs than a year earlier - at a time when overall employment is rising. There are now over 24 million employee jobs across the economy as a whole, so manufacturing now represents just one sixth of the employed workforce. Since 1990 employment in manufacturing has fallen by 16% while the overall number of employee jobs has grown by over 4%.

Some parts of manufacturing have had a harder time than others. As the table shows, over the last 10 years, employment has dropped by 40% in clothing, textiles and leather, 24% in non-metallic mineral and metal products and in machinery and equipment not elsewhere classified (n.e.c).

Overall job losses have, by comparison, been minor in paper, printing and publishing and in "other manufacturing" (both running at -2%). Employment has bucked the trend and risen by 6% in the rubber and plastic products sector.

The total numbers employed only tells part of the story. The 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS), which came out last year shows that manufacturing workplaces still employ more people (on average) than most other kinds of workplace.

In the WERS survey, 18% of all workplaces were in the manufacturing sector (excluding workplaces with under 25 employees) but they provided employment for 25% of employees in the survey. This is because manufacturing workplaces employed, on average, 150 people compared with an overall average of 108 in all kinds of workplaces (workplaces in public administration and the utilities each employ, on average, the largest numbers of employees).

The WERS survey provides some additional information about manufacturing workplaces. In terms of gender, 26% of the manufacturing workforce were women, compared with 48% in all workplaces. Just over one in 10 (11%) manufacturing workplaces had a majority of women in the workforce, compared with over half (53%) of all workplaces.

In terms of unionisation, union density (the proportion of employees who are union members) was comparatively low in manufacturing workplaces in the survey, but this was related to workforce size. Average union density in manufacturing workplaces was 19%, as against 27% in workplaces generally. However, in total 41% of manufacturing employees were union members, compared with 36% in the whole workforce. The two figures differ from one another because union density is generally higher in larger workplaces, and this is particularly true within manufacturing where the figures point to union membership being concentrated mainly in the larger factories.

Finally, manufacturing plays a more important role in the local economy in some parts of the UK than others. The North East, for example, has a comparatively high proportion of jobs in manufacturing. Between March 1998 and March 1999 there was a decrease of almost 6% in the number of employee jobs in manufacturing, a greater loss than the average for Britain as a whole, while employment grew in other sectors such as services and construction (Labour Market Trends October 1999, Spotlight on the North East).

These figures underline the impact that the decline in manufacturing can have. When factories close the impact is keenly felt in the communities from which the workforce is drawn. Job losses can be on a large scale, hitting many traditionally male as well as female occupations, including well-unionised groups in the bigger manufacturing workplaces. The regional effects can be marked, and the continuing decline of manufacturing employment makes government support for industry a key policy area. The government's role in backing the development of a new "jumbo jet" by a consortium involving British Aerospace, and its role in the unfolding crisis at Rover, are two of the most recent examples of this.

Employee jobs in manufacturing (thousands)

Food, drink & tobacco 469 504 -7

Clothing, textiles, leather 304 507 -40

Wood & wood products 86 96 -10

Paper, printing & publishing etc 471 481 -2

Chemicals 255 308 -17

Rubber & plastic products 235 221 +6

Non-metallic mineral & metal products 662 870 -24

Machinery & equipment n.e.c. 377 495 -24

Electrical & optical equipment 502 558 -10

Transport equipment 391 491 -20

Other manufacturing 253 247 -2

Manufacturing as a whole 4,001 4,756 -16

Source: Labour Market Trends April 2000; year 2000 is January figure,

year 1990 is mid-year figure (June)