Manufacturing: Key Economic Indicators

Manufacturing is one of the production industries, which also include mining, electricity, water & waste management and oil & gas extraction.

In 2021, the manufacturing sector accounted for 9.7% of total UK economic output (Gross Value Added). In April-June 2022, manufacturing accounted for 7.3% of UK jobs.

Manufacturing Output

Manufacturing output remained flat between August and September 2022 and was 1.5% below pre-pandemic levels (February 2020). 10 of the 13 subsectors negatively contributed to growth.

Manufacturing output for the three months to September 2022 was 2.3% lower than the three months to June 2022. For the three months to September 2022, manufacturing output decreased by 5.7%, compared with the same period the previous year.

Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI)

In the S&P Global/CIPS PMI, a value of 50 means that there is no change compared to the previous month. Values above 50 indicate an expansion, and values below 50 a contraction.

The flash UK manufacturing PMI for November 2022 was 46.2, unchanged from October. This was the fourth consecutive month of contraction. New orders fell, particularly orders from abroad, leading to falling backlogs of work. Job losses were reported again in November and business optimism remained low.