EngineeringUK has launched an online dashboard designed to track the effect of the Covid-19 emergency on engineering in close to real time.
Engineering Insight: the economic impact of Covid-19 on UK engineering enterprise draws statistics from the Office for National Statistics Business Impacts of Covid Survey (BICS) and the Index of Production to track the economic implications.
Topics being tracked include businesses having to temporarily close during the lockdown; figures for fall in turnover and number of staff furloughed, difficulties in exporting and importing, and the need to find alternative suppliers.
The most recent findings show that 24% of businesses in all industries had paused trading between 23 March and 5 April, including 23% in manufacturing.
At the start of April, 23% of all industries (including the same percentage for manufacturing) reported a decrease in turnover of more than 50%.
At the start of May, 22% of businesses in all industries, and 17% of manufacturing businesses had not exported. The percentage of furloughed staff in manufacturing at the start of April was below average, at 17% compared with 22% over all industries. For construction the figure was 36%, higher than any sector except the hospitality industries.
The value of output (gross value added) fell in different proportions for different manufacturing subsectors, comparing April 2020 with a year previously, ranging from 61% for textiles and apparel, 55% for transport products and 49% for machinery and equipment to 14% for computer, electronic and optical products and only 7% for chemicals.
EngineeringUK chief executive Dr Hilary Leevers said: “The pandemic has accentuated the need to publish information quickly to reflect the evolving environment and help inform policy and action. Engineering Insights will evolve over time to cover a range of wider topics as engineering in the UK rebuilds.”
EngineeringUK is seeking to add interviews and case studies with industry leaders on their views of the pandemic on their sector – if you are interested please get in touch with Luke Armitage, Senior Research Analyst, at larmitage@engineeringuk.com
Engineering Insights can be viewed at www.engineeringuk.com/research/engineering-insights/the-economic-impact-of-covid-19-on-uk-engineering-enterprise/