Thriving or Surviving? The Manufacturing Sector Health Check - November 2025

Every month we pull the latest data from the Office of National Statistics to track the performance of UK manufacturing. The figures cover GDP, jobs, pay, exports, and production.

Following the mixed picture which October’s Manufacturing Sector Health Check painted for us, let’s discover how things have progressed in the following month, as we ask:

Are we thriving, or just surviving?

GDP (for September 2025)

Manufacturing GDP fell by 1.8 points to 98.8; the UK GDP as a whole made a smaller dip of 0.1 points to 102.5.

This was our sector’s largest single-month fall since April 2024.

The three manufacturing sub-sectors with the largest growth this month were:

• Manufacture of computer, electronic & optical products                4.6%
• Manufacture of coke, and refined petroleum products                   4.4%
• Manufacture of electrical equipment                                                3.8%

Employment and vacancies (for October 2025)

The number of paid employees in manufacturing fell by around 7,000, representing a 0.3% decline. This figure follows a revised increase from September of around 1,400.

Compare this to the UK as a whole, which lost 32,000 paid employees – a decline of 0.11%.

The number of vacancies in the manufacturing sector rose by 2,000 (4.35%) in October, reversing September’s fall. The whole of the UK only mustered an increase of 0.14%.

Year on year, however, manufacturing vacancies have dropped by 15.8%, compared to a drop of 12.1% for all sectors.

Wages and payroll (for August 2025)

The mean pay in manufacturing continues to rise. In September 2025 it rose by 0.27% to £3,652. The mean pay of the UK across all industries decreased by 0.6% to £3,403.

Wages continue to increase slowly within this sector, compared to the national picture.

UK aggregate pay decreased by 0.7% to £103.14bn per month, while the corresponding figure for the manufacturing sector rose by 0.2% to £8.41bn.

Exports and production (for September 2025)

Exports increased by 0.9% this month.

The three sub-sectors of manufacturing showing the largest export growth are:

• Manufacture of furniture                                                                                                   26.5%
• Manufacture of Cement, lime, plaster and articles of concrete, cement and plaster   25.0%
• Manufacture of other transport equipment                                                                      22.8%

UK production values (for September 2025)

The three sectors with the largest percentage of production value growth are:

• Manufacture of other transport equipment                                                   36.5%
• Manufacture of Air and spacecraft and related machinery                          32.0%
• Manufacture of computer, electronic & optical products                             28.0%

Only one sector experienced a reduction in production during September:

• Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi-trailers                             -3.5%

Our take on the latest manufacturing sector data

The manufacturing sector is not in robust health across the board, given the drops in GDP and employment.

The number of paid manufacturing employees in October continues to fall at a greater rate than the UK as whole, showing a concerning contraction of the sector.

However, the positive trends in exports, vacancies, and wages reveal that the sector is not in terminal decline either. It is best characterised as surviving—navigating through significant challenges, but with the potential to thrive if innovation and adaptation continue apace.

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