Manufacturing: Key Economic Indicators

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

In October-December 2022, the manufacturing sector accounted for 9.2% of total UK economic output (Gross Value Added). It accounted for 8.1% of jobs over the same period.

Manufacturing Output

Manufacturing output fell by 0.4% between December 2022 and January 2023 and was 2.7% below pre-pandemic levels (February 2020). 7 of the 13 subsectors negatively contributed to growth.

Manufacturing output for the three months to January 2023 fell by 0.2% compared to the three months to October 2022. For the three months to January 2023, manufacturing output decreased by 5.5%, 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 in March 2023 was 48.0, down from 49.3 in February. This was driven by falling pipelines of new work, though there are some reasons for optimism. Supply chains are strengthening, and cost pressures softening, leading to a rise in industry expectations.