Decline of Manufacturing in the United Kingdom

Paper Summary:

The writer explains that although the United Kingdom's economy ranks among Western Europe's largest, its industrial sector employs only 18 percent of the workforce, and has experienced a steady decline since World War II. The paper examines several reasons for this decline. In conclusion, the paper shows that the English economy has moved from manufacturing to finance and new technology.

From the Paper:

"Expansion in old industrial regions such as northeast England, south Wales and central Scotland, based on coal, steel, shipbuilding and mechanical engineering hinged on the imperial dominance of British manufacturing. The decline of the British Empire was reflected in collapse in these sectors and de-industrialization there as well. In the 1960s, decentralization from core regions of the British economy-the West Midlands and the southeast part of the nation, and large urban agglomerations-coincided with a large, growing investment by the government in UK based companies overseas. A new layer of economic growth was added as a result, but a layer that could not accommodate such growth. The result was growth being added to peripheral regions through branch plant operations of multinational corporations. These corporations were attracted by the prospect of good investment capital, regional policy and a plentiful labor reserve. This overlapped the declining heavy industrial complexes that were not able to cope with heightened international competition. In other words, existing manufacturing plants operating on home soil were being forced to compete with companies from other nations using the same soil for manufacturing. In the 1960s, manufacturing investment absorbed less than 4 GDP, a rate lower than all other European countries. Ministers in government, eager to achieve growth, were more prepared to expand growth and achieve higher demand found that the investors and population did not have the same enthusiasm."

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