Analysis of global manufacturing output shows that the value added by manufacturing employees in the UK increased by almost $14,000 per worker between 2018 and 2023, higher than that achieved in any other major manufacturing economy over the same period.
The analysis was conducted by Four Jaw Manufacturing Analytics to mark National Productivity Week. The analysis draws on World Bank data showing
that UK manufacturers delivered net output worth $280 billion in 2023 after removing the cost of energy, materials, and other inputs.
Four Jaw’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% more than the $95,000 value-add per worker achieved five years earlier.
Four Jaw says the UK’s productivity gains have elevated the value of per-worker manufacturing output above that of 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.
Only US manufacturing workers, who delivered net output worth $167,000 each, produced more value more efficiently than their UK counterparts in 2023.
China’s manufacturers delivered net output worth $4.7 trillion in 2023, more than a quarter of the world’s $16.2 trillion total.
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.”
National Productivity Week is a campaign by the Productivity Institute to improve UK productivity.