Trade and Manufacturing Employment in the United Kingdom

Abstract

One of the salient features of the UK economy over the last 15 years has been the large fall in manufacturing employment: from 7.3 million in 1979 the industial labour force fell to 5.5 million in 1983 and, more slowly but persistently, to 4.3 million in 1994. Only one year in the last 16 has seen an increase in manufacturing jobs, and within the total there has also been a shift from full-time to part-time work. From an employment perspective there has therefore been a substantial deindustrialization over recent years and this has been associated with a rise in the level of unemployment, which has persisted at a high level compared with that recorded in the 1950s and 1960s. Viewed more positively, since 1979 the UK has achieved a modest expansion in industrial production with a considerably reduced workforce. With employment falling by 40 per cent between 1979 and 1993, and output in real terms expanding 16 per cent, the rise in the output to labour ratio has been, if not miraculous, at least substantial.

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