Manufacturing employment down 18.5%

Jan 26 2012

The number of people employed in manufacturing in Scotland has fallen by 46,500 in last five years, according to research by a trade union.

GMB said official figures show that 250,700 workers were employed in the industry in 2006/7, compared with 204,200 in 2010/11 - a drop of around 18.5%.

Glasgow saw the figure fall by 7,300 from 18,100 employed in 2006/7 to 10,800 employed in 2010/11.

This puts the city at the top of the Scottish league for the area with the highest number of manufacturing job losses during the recession and the recovery period.

Next in the Scottish league table were Fife, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire, Highland, Dumfries and Galloway, Angus, Falkirk, East Ayrshire and Renfrewshire.

GMB Scotland secretary Harry Donaldson said: "Unless action is taken to support and develop manufacturing, the economic future for this nation is bleak."

Mr Donaldson said steps such as the creation of a strategic investment bank, increased support for medium-sized companies, a "smarter approach" to procurement and urgent action on the "skill shortage" in the UK were needed.

He also called for a "fairer economic model" with a stronger role for unions and employer organisations.

"There should be a concentration of effort on high skill, high value manufacturing sectors - for example in the field of environmental technology - on those British companies most likely to succeed in the face of global competition," he said.

"UK manufacturing should be used as the supply chain in the multibillion pound capital investment programme needed to upgrade and modernise the UK's infrastructure."