Thriving or Surviving? The Manufacturing Sector Health Check - July 2026

Is UK manufacturing on the up? Or is it on the ropes? Our monthly manufacturing sector health check pulls the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to show how it’s shaping up against the wider outlook for the UK.

GDP (for May 2026)

The manufacturing GDP index increased by 0.1 points to 101.4.

The UK GDP index also increased by 0.1 points to 103.2.

(Both figures were adjusted down from the previous month’s summary.)

These are the three manufacturing sub-sectors that demonstrated the largest growth in the last month:

Sub-sector	Growth
Manufacture of other chemical products	3.7%
Repair and maintenance of aircraft and spacecraft	3.4%
Manufacture of dyestuffs and agro-chemicals	3.1%

Employment and vacancies (for June 2026)

Paid employees in manufacturing remained at around 2.29 million (following an upward revision to May's figures), with a small decline of around 4,000 in June.

The number of UK employees also stayed roughly the same at an adjusted 30.28 million.

Manufacturing vacancies declined by around 3,000 (6%) in June. There was, however, a small increase for the number of vacancies in the UK as a whole, of about 2,000 or 0.28%.

Wages and payroll (for May 2026)

Manufacturing mean pay rose by £6 (0.16%) to £3,732. The figure for the UK overall rose £7 to £3,488 (prior figures for both have been adjusted).

Aggregate pay for the manufacturing sector rose 0.17% to £8.56 billion per month (prior month’s figure adjusted).

Aggregate pay for the UK increased by 0.21% to £105.64 billion per month.

Exports and production (for May 2026)

Manufacturing exports increased by 2.0% in May.

The three manufacturing sub-sectors which displayed the largest export growth for May were:

Sub-sector	Growth
Repair and maintenance of ships and boats	36.4%
Building of ships and boats	23.6%
Manufacture of furniture	22.7%

UK production values (for May 2026)

The three manufacturing sub-sectors recording the largest percentage of production value growth in May were:

Sub-sector	Growth
Manufacture of air and spacecraft and related machinery	22.6%
Manufacture of other wearing apparel and accessories n.e.c.	11.0%
Manufacture of other transport equipment	8.7%

The largest falls in production in May 2026 were in:

Sub-sector	Decline
Leather and related products	-13.9%
Manufacture of industrial gases, inorganics and fertilisers (inorganic chemicals)	-13.4%
Manufacture of prepared animal feeds	-9.5%

Our take on the latest data

Despite a slight increase this month, manufacturing remained behind the wider UK economy, with both recording similar growth. The move does suggest output has stabilised rather than deteriorated.

Employment in manufacturing was broadly stable in June after May was adjusted up, with only a small drop in the latest month’s figures. The UK total also remained roughly unchanged, so the labour market signal is soft but not sharply weakening.

Manufacturing vacancies fell again in June while UK vacancies increased slightly, suggesting manufacturers may be pulling back on hiring faster than the wider economy, even though some skills gaps are likely to persist.

Exports rebounded in May, increasing 2.0% after April’s decline, pointing to pockets of external demand strength rather than a uniformly strong export picture.

Production values were more positive in May, but there were some sizeable falls, which suggests the recovery remains uneven across subsectors. Pay momentum remained subdued in May, despite slight increases.

Manufacturing performance through the spring and into early summer 2026 suggests a sector still surviving rather than thriving. Output edged up in line with the wider economy, exports rebounded, vacancies continued to ease, employment dipped only marginally, and pay/payroll growth remained muted.

What’s your view on the latest data? Is the sector thriving or surviving? Follow Enginuity on LinkedIn for the latest insights into the engineering and manufacturing sector, and stay tuned for the next edition of Thriving or Surviving? on our news & views page.

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