UK manufacturing workers make productivity gains

These gains were higher than those achieved in any other major manufacturing economy over the same period.

World Bank data show that UK manufacturers delivered net output worth $280bn in 2023 after removing the cost of energy, materials, and other inputs. FourJaw’s analysis, which also draws on OECD workforce data, reveals this equated to $109,000 of added value for each of the UK’s 2.6 million manufacturing workers in 2023. This figure was 15 per cent more than the $95,000 value-add per worker achieved five years earlier.

According to the analysis, Britain’s productivity gains have elevated the value of per-worker manufacturing output above Germany ($106,000), South Korea ($93,000), and Japan ($76,000). These economies continue to produce more than the UK in absolute terms and previously outperformed the UK on per-worker productivity. US manufacturing workers, who delivered net output worth $167,000 each, produced more value more efficiently than their UK counterparts in 2023.

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China’s manufacturers delivered net output worth $4.7tn in 2023, more than a quarter of the world’s $16.2tn total. Statista reports that 214 million people worked in China’s manufacturing sector in 2023, which gives the world’s biggest manufacturing economy a per-worker productivity level of $22,000. 

In a statement, Chris Iveson, CEO at FourJaw Manufacturing Analytics, said: “Many of the world’s major manufacturing economies still produce more value in absolute terms than the UK, but they need many more people to do so. Only US factory workers create more value more efficiently than those in the UK.”

“Our analysis shows that the value of productivity improvements achieved by UK manufacturing workers between 2018 and 2023 was better than those achieved in any other major manufacturing economy. But the reality is that they’ve only just scratched the surface of what is now possible on productivity.”

Today’s report (January 27, 2025) coincides with the start of National Productivity Week, which is a campaign by the Productivity Institute to improve UK productivity.