UK manufacturing workers ‘lead world in productivity gains’
27 January 2025 
The value added by manufacturing employees in the UK increased by almost $14,000 per worker between 2018 and 2023 – more than in any other major manufacturing economy over the same period – according to an analysis of World Bank data by FourJaw Manufacturing Analytics.
The data shows 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 that this equated to $109,000 of added value for each of the UK’s 2.6 million manufacturing workers during 2023. This figure was 15% higher than the $95,000 value-add per worker achieved in 2018.
According to Sheffield-based FourJaws’ analysis, the UK’s productivity gains have elevated the value of per-worker manufacturing output above that of Germany ($106,000), South Korea ($93,000) or Japan ($76,000). These economies have previously outperformed the UK on per-worker productivity and continue to produce more than the UK in absolute terms. Only US manufacturing workers, who delivered net output worth $167,000 each, produced more value more efficiently than their UK counterparts in 2023, the analysis suggests.
Chinese manufacturers delivered a net output worth $4.7 trillion in 2023 – more than a quarter of the world’s combined total of $16.2 trillion. With 214 million people reported to be working in the Chinese manufacturing sector in 2023, this gives the world’s biggest manufacturing economy a per-worker productivity of $22,000.
“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,” comments FourJaw Manufacturing Analytics’ CEO, Chris Iveson. “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.”
The analysis also shows that the UK now has one of the smallest manufacturing workforces in the industrialised world, having slipped from 2.7 million in 2018 to 2.6 million in 2023. Indonesia, by comparison, has 18.8 million, India has 18.4 million (an increase of two million since 2018), the US has 14.9 million, Brazil has 11.6 million, and Japan has 10.8 million.
