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

It’s that time again – our monthly manufacturing sector health check pulls data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) to examine the state of the manufacturing sector against the wider picture for the UK.

Let’s see if UK manufacturing is thriving or surviving.

GDP (for April 2026)

Manufacturing GDP gained four tenths of a point in April, rising to 101.5.

The UK figure fell one tenth of a point from the previous figure to 103.3.

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

Sub-sector	Growth
Repair and maintenance of aircraft and spacecraft	5.4%
Manufacture of petrochemicals	4.9%
Manufacture of wood and wood products except furniture	4.0%

Employment and vacancies (for May 2026)

Paid employees in manufacturing dropped to 2.29 million (adjusted figure), a small drop of 0.21% or around 5,000.

The number of UK employees stayed roughly the same at an adjusted 30.25 million.

The increase in April of manufacturing vacancies was reversed in May, declining by 1,000, around 2%. The number of vacancies in the UK as a whole also declined, by around 2,000 or 0.28%.

Wages and payroll (for April 2026)

Manufacturing mean pay had a slight increase of £2 (0.05%) to £3,747. The figure for the UK overall rose £29 to £3,492 (prior figure adjusted).

Aggregate pay for the UK increased by 0.65% to £105.63 billion per month. However, aggregate pay for the manufacturing sector declined by 0.02%, to £8.59 billion per month.

Exports and production (for April 2026)

Exports decreased by a further 0.8% in April 2026.

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

Sub-sector	Growth
Printing and reproduction of recorded media	28.7%
Manufacture of industrial gases, inorganics and fertilisers	15.1%
Manufacture of soft drinks, mineral waters and bottled water	12.8%

UK production values (for April 2026)

The three sectors which recorded the largest percentage of production value growth in April were:

Sub-sector	Growth
Manufacture of leather and related products	6.5%
Manufacture of petrochemicals	5.0%
Manufacture of textiles	1.9%

The largest falls in production in April 2026 were in:

Sub-sector	Growth
Repair and maintenance of ships	-25.9%
Manufacture of motor vehicles, trailers and semi trailers	-24.5%
Manufacture of other transport equipment	-24.5%

Our take on the latest data

Performance in the manufacturing sector through April–May 2026 suggests we’re still seeing mixed momentum: manufacturing output improved versus the wider economy, but exports softened further, vacancies eased, and pay momentum cooled.

GDP in manufacturing increased while the UK showed a small decrease. Manufacturing remains behind the wider economy in level terms, but the sector has again showed relatively better monthly momentum.

There was a slight decline in manufacturing employment of 0.21% for May against the broader UK total which remained relatively flat. This suggests the manufacturing decline was modest rather than a sign of broad labour market deterioration.

An increase in manufacturing vacancies reported in April was reversed by figures for May which showed a drop of 2.0% or 1,000. With UK vacancies also edging lower by 0.28% or 2,000 it appears that hiring is softer, despite vacancy levels still suggesting ongoing needs for skills in specific roles.

A further decline of exports in April suggests external demand remains a drag for UK manufacturers, even as domestic output indicators improved.

Production performance was more mixed in April: modest rises were tempered by sharp falls, showing the recovery is uneven rather than broad-based.

What’s your view on the latest data? Is the sector Thriving or Surviving? Check out the latest developments on our LinkedIn page and stay tuned for the next instalment on our news & views page.

Enginuity on LinkedIn