Thriving or Surviving? 2025 - The manufacturing sector year in review

Enginuity has been sharing monthly data regarding the performance of the manufacturing sector, drawn from figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS).

Now that we’re beginning to see the patterns and dig deep into what it might mean, let’s see how far the sector came in the last calendar year by comparing the metrics from December 2025 against those from December 2024.

Let’s find out if the sector was surviving or thriving last year.

Gross Value Added (GVA) (December 2024 – December 2025)

The GVA figures for manufacturing rose 0.4 points during 2025, to 101.3. UK GVA rose 0.8 points to 102.6 over the course of the year.

The three manufacturing sub-sectors that demonstrated the largest growth from December 2024 to December 2025 are:

Manufacturing sub-sector	GVA growth (%)
Air and spacecraft and related machinery	13.2%
Manufacture of other transport equipment	11.2%
Manufacture of paints, varnishes and similar coatings, printing ink and mastics	10.7%

Employment and vacancies (December 2024 – December 2025)

The figure for paid employees in manufacturing stood at 2.3 million at the end of the year, according to figures published by the ONS last month. Compared with December 2024 figures it means there’s been a decline of 1.3%, or around 31,000.

In comparison, the number of paid employees in the UK dropped 0.4% (around 121,000) to 30.29m at the end of 2025.

Manufacturing vacancies have dropped by just over a tenth (10.3%) or 6,000, compared to a 9.7% drop for all sectors, which is about 78,000 vacancies.

Wages and payroll (December 2024 – December 2025)

Manufacturing mean pay rose by 4.1% (£144) when we recorded the change in the 2025 calendar year, while the UK overall experienced a similar increase of 4.3% (£141).

UK aggregate pay had increased almost 4% (3.9%) to £103.3bn per month, an increase of around £3.87bn. The manufacturing sector had a smaller increase of 2.93%, or around £242m per month.

Exports and Production (December 2024 – December 2025)

Exports had increased by 3.6% at the end of 2025.

The three manufacturing sub-sectors which displayed the largest export growth in 2025 were:

Manufacturing sub-sector	export growth (%)
Manufacture of wearing apparel	35.8%
Manufacture of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations	34.3%
Manufacture of vegetable and animal oils and fats	19.9%

The three manufacturing sub-sectors which displayed the largest annual decline in 2025 were:

Manufacturing sub-sector	export decline (%)
Manufacture of grain mill products, starches and starch products	-32.3%
Manufacture of prepared animal feeds	-27.0%
Manufacture of soft drinks; production of mineral waters and other bottled waters	-12.2%

UK Production Values (December 2024 – December 2025)

The three sectors which recorded the largest percentage of production value growth through the last calendar year were:

Manufacturing sub-sector	production value growth (%)
Repair and maintenance of aircraft and spacecraft	27.2%
Manufacture of electrical equipment	20.4%
Manufacture of printing and reproduction of recorded media	18.1%

Meanwhile, the three sectors showing the largest decrease in production value were:

Manufacturing sub-sector	production value decline (%)
Repair and maintenance of ships and boats	-47.2%
Manufacture of other transport equipment	-30.9%
Manufacture of soap and detergents, cleaning and polishing preparations, perfumes and toilet preparations	-14.0%

Our take on the 2025 ONS data

Growth remained modest in the 12 months to December 2025. Manufacturing GVA edged up 0.4 points to 101.3, trailing the broader UK economy, which grew 0.8 points to 102.6.

Pressures on the labour market deepened. Manufacturing employment suffered a sharper contraction (-1.3%) than the UK‑wide decline of -0.4%. Vacancies within the sector (down 10.3% year-on-year) also fared worse than the national trend (-9.7%). This combination of falling headcount and reduced hiring points to ongoing caution, cost control, and an underlying restructuring rather than cyclical fluctuation.

Pay trends softened but remained positive. Manufacturing mean pay growth was closely aligned with UK‑wide figures, although aggregate payroll growth was weaker in manufacturing compared with the UK overall. These figures reflect the sector’s shrinking workforce and subdued churn.

Exports provided a bright spot. Export values rose 3.6%, with standout annual growth in wearing apparel, pharmaceuticals, and vegetable & animal oils/fats. However, pockets of steep decline persisted, suggesting uneven global demand across subsectors.

The data for the year 2025 overall paints a picture of a sector still in “surviving with pockets of strength” mode. The centre of gravity is stabilisation rather than acceleration, with resilience concentrated in advanced manufacturing segments. The sector is not yet thriving, but nor is it in outright decline – it is surviving.

Thriving or Surviving? is our monthly look at the figures to assess the strength of the manufacturing sector. Stay tuned to our LinkedIn page for the latest slides on social media, or look back at previous posts on the News and Views page.

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