November sees slower rise in factory output

Growth in manufacturing output has slowed, latest official figures show.

Factory output in the three months to November was up by 0.4% on the previous three-month period compared with a 0.5% increase in the three months to October.

The two subsectors contributing most to growth were coke and refined petroleum products with a 6.9% increase and computer, electrical and optical products where output was up by 4.1%.

On the downside, textiles, wearing apparel and leather products saw output down by 2.5% and machinery and other equipment by 2.3%.

Factory output for the latest three months was up by 2.2% on the same period a year ago.

In third quarter of 2014 there were 2.6 million jobs in the manufacturing sector, accounting for just 8% of all jobs in the UK. This was an increase of 13,000 or 0.5% over the previous quarter and an increase of 42,000 or 1.5% over the same quarter of 2013.

The wider measure of industrial output (manufacturing, mining and utilities) saw growth of 0.4% in the three months to November and 0.9% growth on the same period a year earlier.

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_390723.pdf