UK manufacturing sector continues growth

UK manufacturing sector continues growth

According to Markit/CIPS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, the UK’s manufacturing sector recorded a PMI level of 57.3 for December, indicating strong growth.

Despite falling slightly from November’s 58.1, the highest in almost three years, this mark far surpasses the mid-range of 50 which denotes improvement.

Rob Dobson, a senior economist at Markit said that “On its current track, the [UK manufacturing] sector should achieve output growth of over 1% in the final quarter while filling around 10-15 thousand jobs, continuing its positive contributions to both the broader economic and labour market recoveries.” The unemployment rate in the UK fell to just 7.4% in December, the lowest rate since 2009.

The manufacturing sector has been boosted by the recovery improvements in the UK economy as well as more new export orders from countries such as China, Ireland, Brazil, Russia and the U.S.