COVID’s HIDDEN BENEFIT There are not many things that we can thank Covid for, but one of them has apparently been to raise the status of engineering and manufacturing in the eyes of the UK public. In 2018, the manufacturers’ organisation Make UK carried out a survey of the public which uncovered a widespread belief that Britain “didn’t make things any more”. At the time, less than a quarter (24%) of parents said they would encourage their sons to work in manufacturing, while the number happy for their daughters to follow this career path was a dismal 14%. Then along came Covid and people witnessed car-makers building ventilators, clothing and textile companies adapting to produce medical gowns and facemasks, and food and drink factories turning their lines over to making hand sanitisers. According to Make UK, the positive coverage generated during the pandemic shifted perceptions, making people aware of the importance of Britain’s industrial base. Now parents see manufacturing as a high-skilled, high-tech and high-wage sector. Far from being in decline, the UK is now home to two of the top ten global pharmaceutical companies (GSK and AstraZeneca), while one in five jet engines in service around the world is made by Rolls Royce in the UK. The nation ranks third in the world for aerospace manufacturing by value, and is the largest destination for space investment after the US. So perhaps it is not all that surprising that a new survey of 2,436 UK citizens, carried out by Savanta for Make UK and Sheffield Hallam University, reveals a dramatic shift in attitudes. Five years ago, 70% of people felt that UK manufacturing was critical to expanding the UK economy. Now the figure is 93%. And while just 20% of parents wanted their children to work in the manufacturing sector in 1998, the figure has now doubled to 40%. More than a third of parents (36%) would now be happy for happy for their daughters to pursue a career in manufacturing, while 44% would encourage their sons to enter the sector. The public now regards manufacturing as being hugely important to the future of the UK economy, with more than three-quarters seeing it as providing the answers to the challenges of tomorrow. Perceptions about pay, working conditions and career prospects have also undergone a massive transformation, with almost half of parents now believing that manufacturing is a well-paid career. This is borne out by the facts that a quality manager working in the food and drink sector in the South East typically earns £61,000, while purchasing managers in Yorkshire and the Humber take home an average of £51,000 – 9% above the national average. “Manufacturing is the engine of economic growth and it is pleasing that the UK public shares our view that the sector is critical for the country’s economy,” comments Make UK’s CEO, Stephen Phipson. “Manufacturers have been working hard to reduce their energy use and slash carbon emissions – demonstrating their commitment to net-zero. The public have recognised this with over half the them believing that manufacturing is an environmentally-friendly. “The hard work and resilience of manufacturers over the last few years has paid off, and this is reflected in the uptick of perceptions among the British public,” he adds. “But there is still work to be done as over half of children surveyed had not even considered a job in manufacturing.” Nusrat Ghani, the Minister for Industry and Economic Security, points out that manufacturing contributed £224bn in gross value added in 2022, supporting 2.6 million jobs and helping to drive innovation and exports. “We are determined to provide UK manufacturers with the cutting edge over our competitors,” she adds. While the shift in public perceptions is welcome, more needs to be done to inform people about how vital engineering and manufacturing are to the UK economy – and how they could be even more critical in future. When surveyed in 2018, UK citizens guessed that the country was 56th in the world ranking of manufacturing nations – the position actually occupied by Kazakhstan at the time. Now they put Britain at 43rd spot, at a time when the UK is actually ranked 8th in the world, up one place in from 9th place it occupied in 2018. Tony Sacks, Editor n COMMENT
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