Is the UK manufacturing sector about to rise from the ashes?
The UK manufacturing sector has been dead and buried for many years with consecutive governments reducing assistance and concentrating on the services sector, dominated by the financial industry. However, there are signs that political parties are now trying to win over the hearts and minds of UK manufacturing companies in the knowledge that exports and the production of physical items hold the key to the UK economic recovery.
There is a growing feeling that political parties have learned from the past and we should see more support from governments in the future for the UK manufacturing sector. It has fallen from 20.4% of GDP in 1997 to 13.5% of GDP in 2009 although there are still over 130,000 manufacturers in the UK who together account for 53% of export earnings. When you also consider there are 2.6 million people employed by the UK manufacturing sector, it certainly looks as if it should be receiving more focus than it has been in the recent past.
One potential downside regarding further investment in the UK manufacturing sector is the likelihood that this could hand over more power to UK unions and could see an explosion in friction between UK manufacturing companies and UK unions. However, after considering all of the benefits an expanded manufacturing sector could bring, is this a small price to pay?
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