the decline of UK manufacturing

CLAPTON

DiggerUK wrote: »

Wealth can only be produced from making 'stuff', profits can be accrued from servicing manufacturing, but that's all the service sector can do..._

there are several ways of obtaining a car

one is making it
another is making a movie and exchanging the opportunity to watch the movie for a car


both provide the same end product

cells

mwpt wrote: »

Would fracking be economically worthwhile for us if oil never rises above $50?

no one knows for sure but the road to second class status is lined with 'it probably wont work so lets not try'

the bowland shale in the NW could potentially be the biggest gas deposit in the world. The thickness of the shale could potentially mean a lot more gas per well and a lot more wells per pad making it potentially very economic. Also vital is the fact that the Bowland sits in a nation that uses lots of NG and with a good gas transport infrastructure. The UK could go to producing 120 BCM / yr of nat gas without a lot of additional infrastructure (unlike say a gas field discovered in remote siberia which would need lots of money to actually get it to market)

So definitely worthwhile trying and fingers crossed it is a producer like marcellus. However if I were a EU oil and gas producer I would not want to develop shale in the EU nor want anyone else to do so. At least not for 20 years, why crash your current conventional fields revenue and profit.

cells

Mistermeaner wrote: »

Farming also does not produce GDP like manufacturing does.

lets hope manufacturing goes the same way

Linton

The decline in UK manufacturing is a bit of a myth. It has actually remained pretty constant over time. For example 40-50 years ago we were producing about the same number of cars as we are doing now. The major change is that productivity has increased enormously leading to a much smaller manufacturing labour force, releasing labour for rather more lucrative skill-based services. See here for example. The second major change is that the manufacturers are mainly foreign owned, so manufacturing is rather less visible.

DiggerUK

Linton wrote: »

The decline in UK manufacturing is a bit of a myth. It has actually remained pretty constant over time..........

Productivity is vastly improved, here and all over the world. But as a percentage of UK GDP, it has halved in ten years.

Reduce manufacturing of 'stuff' like cars, and fewer people have wages to spend in service industries.
Service industries are reliant on manufacturing industries, not the other way round..._

Generali

Mistermeaner wrote: »

Well we subsidise farmers to sit on land that could be used for housing so maybe not

Farming also does not produce GDP like manufacturing does.

Tell that to the US and Aus!

Manufacturing isn't the panacea that many make it out to be. If you look at the value created in a Barbie doll for example, the money is to be made in the design and sale of the doll. The manufacturers make very little.

As an aside, the UK was the seventh biggest manufacturer by output in 2014:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_sector_composition

ahead of countries such as France, Italy and South Korea.

Mistermeaner

kinger101 wrote: »

Are manufacturing jobs better than those in say banking or the service industries. We have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the developed world.

No but not everyone can work in a London bank.

A diversified economy can have its benefits as well as allowing regions to benefit from localised speciality. The resources are Sat under us and will generate GDP both directly from their extraction and also as Mr ratcliffe explains make the UK more attractive for foreign investment thus creating good jobs.

We can still bank away and make movies. Let's just do this as well

kinger101

Mistermeaner wrote: »

No but not everyone can work in a London bank.

A diversified economy can have its benefits as well as allowing regions to benefit from localised speciality. The resources are Sat under us and will generate GDP both directly from their extraction and also as Mr ratcliffe explains make the UK more attractive for foreign investment thus creating good jobs.

We can still bank away and make movies. Let's just do this as well

No, they can't. But there's more than one service industry. The reason manufacturing has declined is because in large part we spend less of our relative income now on manufactured goods and more on services. It's rather nice that something simple like a fridge no longer costs several weeks wages.

cells

Generali wrote: »

Tell that to the US and Aus!

Manufacturing isn't the panacea that many make it out to be. If you look at the value created in a Barbie doll for example, the money is to be made in the design and sale of the doll. The manufacturers make very little.

As an aside, the UK was the seventh biggest manufacturer by output in 2014:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_sector_composition

ahead of countries such as France, Italy and South Korea.

one of the UK biggest manufacturing products is (might be the biggest?) processed foods...stuff like frozen curries and biscuits

but then that is true of most nations.

cells

kinger101 wrote: »

No, they can't. But there's more than one service industry. The reason manufacturing has declined is because in large part we spend less of our relative income now on manufactured goods and more on services. It's rather nice that something simple like a fridge no longer costs several weeks wages.

which is what I was trying to get at when I said lets hope manufacturing falls towards 1-2% of GDP. It simply would mean that manufacturered products are really cheap just like base foods are