A new survey on public attitudes to manufacturing reveals support and ignorance in almost equal measure writes Stephen Phipson, CEO of EEF
As our politicians enjoy their conference season and consider the potential implications of a ‘no deal’ Brexit on the future of our economy they might do well to take notice of a survey that we’ve carried out with our partner law firm Womble Bond Dickinson.
We work with great businesses every day and see first-hand their inventiveness, their resilience and adaptability. We know that manufacturers are crucial to generating wealth, to the UK’s research and development efforts and we know that the UK would be exporting a lot less around the world without them. And we’ve got the statistics that show how important the sector has been in improving productivity. But we would say that, wouldn’t we?
So we’ve asked the great British public what they think about manufacturing.
The good news is that the public does understand the importance of manufacturing. They see that it matters to their local area, with that view being especially dominant in communities that rely more heavily on manufacturing for jobs. Looking forward, almost three quarters of people agree that the UK cannot tackle future problems without a strong manufacturing sector. The sector also comes first when asked which sector is likely to provide a solution to the challenges facing the UK, in particular the grand challenges identified in the Government’s Industrial Strategy which will impact on economies and societies all over the world.
In particular, these include the way that we travel and transport goods, as well as rapidly developing artificial intelligence. Manufacturing was also ranked second when it comes to reducing the impact of climate change and scores highly with the public for trust and ‘doing the right thing’.
Added to this the public also believes that when the UK leaves the EU manufacturing is vitally important to securing our place in the global economy, while they also felt that a strong manufacturing sector was important to secure employment for future generations.
The British public believes that the UK is ranked at fifty six in the world, which is actually the position of Kazakhstan
This strong public backing for the importance of manufacturing has significant implications for the direction of policy as we look to build on industrial strategy and decide what type of economy we are going to need to secure growth in a post-Brexit world.
That was where the good news stopped, however, as the survey also contained some alarming findings that confirm the poor and outdated image of manufacturing still persists among parents.
When asked only a fifth of parents want their children to work in manufacturing believing the sector to be poorly paid, whilst just over a quarter said they do not want their offspring working on a production line. In addition, almost one fifth said they did not want their child doing manual labour, a factor which has huge implications at a time when Apprenticeships and Technical Skills are so critical.
The extent of misperception about pay is that average earnings in manufacturing significantly exceed average earnings in the whole of the UK economy and services, but just 16 per cent of the public are aware of this and the financial opportunities opting for a career in manufacturing could bring.
Furthermore, while the public understands the value of manufacturing the view of Britain’s international standing was extremely underrated. The British public believes that the UK is ranked at 56 in the world, which is actually the position of Kazakhstan.
The reality is that the UK has not been out of the top ten performing manufacturing countries around the globe for the last decade, and is currently sitting at ninth place in the world.
The findings make it clear that manufacturing still has a core role in the hearts and minds of the British public, that it is important for the country’s economy and government should invest more in its future. But the findings show an alarming misperception still exists about the opportunities and rewards available in manufacturing among those who are crucial to its future, namely the parents of the next generation. We must be ceaseless therefore in talking up our sector, its significance and the fact it is a sector the public and those working in it can be proud of.
As such there can be no easing in pushing government to work with industry to invest more in creating the next generation of manufacturers. This will ensure we are able to maintain Britain’s impressive place in global manufacturing and secure its future growth potential.
Key findings
The survey, which attracted 2052 responses from across the UK was carried our for EEF by YouGov.
- 79% of people believe Govt should place greater value on manufacturing
- 70% of people agree a strong manufacturing base essential to tackle future challenges
- 69% of people think manufacturing essential to post Brexit place in world
- Yet only one fifth of parents would want their child to work in the sector
- Misperception about pay and working on production line key reasons
- Public believes Britain to be 56th biggest manufacturing nation, in reality is it’s 9th
Nothing new there then, I have said for many years that the general public have no regard for engineering and are so ignorant to what it gives them. Engineering gives them their alarm clocks to get up with, the bed they have slept in, the bathroom they use for their toilet and washing, the homes they live in and even the carpets upon which they walk. It gives them their TV, their cookers, fridges, toasters, kettles, and the cars they travel to work in or the buses they travel on to work, the roads which they travel on, the buildings which they work in, and the heating and cooling to keep them warm or cooled, their hospitals, leisure centres, and community centres to name a few.
Do they really care? no as apathy rules.
You are perfectly correct here – the truth is that engineers are so good at their jobs with everything working well that it all gets taken for granted. Not so in developing countries where progress and change are all about engineering investment.
Whilst there are a number of factors which we need to change the biggest one as far as I can see is that Engineers are simply very poor at talking about their people, what they do, and why they do it to the general public. This is in stark contrast to other sectors such as Law, Media, Finance, Advertising, Entertainment. Just think about those actors who sit on Graham Norton’s couch going on and on about how they managed to remember a few lines of script off by heart.
The stigma attached to apprenticeships linked to working in a factory in a blue oil stained boiler suit for the rest of a life still sticks. We lost our heavy industries partly to not being competitive and Communist styled Trade
Union leaders. Young people have no direction as they stare into mobile phones and tablets, believing the answers lie there. The UK’s school syllabus and off the wall teaching methods have produced masses of youngsters who can barely read, write or even speak properly. Technologically the UK is way ahead of other countries in niche markets like aerospace and robotics, but grass roots industry has long gone.
How right you are!
The results of this survey seem to show most people’s perception as one of ignorance. The blame lies with the constriction of the Education system by successive Governments of all three colours in the focus on syllabus and exam results.
How is a student to decide on their life choices at 14 years old if they have never seen inside a factory / design house/ research centre or even visited a science or technology museum? It is essential for all education establishments to bring out the potential of all their students and expose them to as many experiences as possible. That they cannot do without budget, connections and, most important the flexibility in the syllabus to give time for talks, discussion and visits. Most teachers I know have never been inside a factory themselves, so how can they inspire their students?
We have so many different ways of communication now which were not available 20 years ago, so come on parents everywhere, do your bit and support your College/ School/ University by challenging their Management , take your own out to any site available and give young people a chance to do what they could achieve.
If anyone has any doubt as to the wealth generating benefits of manufacturing they only have to look at Germany and Japan, however I fear that until this country has a proportion of MP’s who have spent time at any level within industry then I doubt that sufficient understanding will exist for priority to be given to building our manufacturing base to past, world beating levels.
Couple this with the short-term attitudes to profits and share price that dominate our stock markets and banks and one can start to understand the real uphill battle that industry and potential entrepreneurs face.
Successive governments’ drive to get all students into university (whether or not they are academically suited to the task) has made working with one’s hands a dirty word. Some of the best paid jobs today are within recognised trades and people used to be and should still be proud to say “I am a skilled worker” and with this the government should be more practical in their approach to promoting vocations and trades without this incomprehensible drive to push everyone get a degree. Lets face it, the only thing that many students end up with is massive debt and a degree which provides little prospect of a decent job.
Is there any wonder that we are now saying that to cover the demand for skilled workers we have to have immigration, what is so wrong with training our own home grown population? The only answer that I have is that it has been past government policies that have successively ignored the needs of industry. You could probably add the health service to the equation as well.
I have to respectfully disagree with you Ivan, although you make some good points.
One of the principle reasons that parents are so naive about Engineering is that the word is synonymous with trades and getting ones hands dirty. Why would an intelligent parent who wants the best for their child push them into a trade which they see as dirty, unskilled, dangerous and underpaid?
The point I’m trying to make is, Engineer’s ARE intelligent, well paid and highly skilled. This misconception that we aren’t is what needs to change, not just to say we should be proud of being dirty, underpaid and medium skilled. In most of the rest of the world my (and most reading this) title would be ‘Engineer Freeman’, instead most in the UK assume I fix boilers for a living. Not to say this isn’t a noble career, however engineers aren’t technicians, this is just the misconception that prevails. This change needs to start with Engineer becoming a protected title along with Architect and Doctor, pull your socks up politicians!
And yet latest New Scientist poll revealed the British public are not as technologically naive as everybody thought! – so I would like to understand the questions as asked by the poll to start. Then there is that old joke where skilled labour can be very well paid, but only if you can put the word ‘my’ in front of the skillset. I think Durant made the epithet ‘ men who manage men, manage men who can only mange things ‘ – If you work for a company, then management threaten you with cheaper workers from around the world such that ‘market forces’ dictate that executives get first world pay, workers 2nd world at best. So the public would probably rather their children enter that executive class of Business administrators, law, accountancy etc – the type of job all business needs whether its doing well or going broke.
With respect, that’s total rubbish. I work with teenagers outside of my job, and they are all without exception the most switched-on people I know. The are FAR more engaged, enthusiastic and keen to learn than my generation ever was.
They are also far, far more likely to question the status-quo and strive for change and improvement and not accept feeble reasons for the way things are done. Some may consider that a lack of respect. Perhaps that’s what you dislike?
Tell your kids to run screaming from any manufacturing job, and any of the management layers above, why should they be a poverty-stricken and unsatisfied as I have always been?
Despite all the “surveys”, manufacturing as a “wealth creator” will never create real wealth for the people doing it.
There is no hope. Give up and work in some other line of business, one they can’t export.
It is interesting to see that many (25%) see manufacturing as being about production lines and 20% see it as being poorly paid. That might explain why much support is given to design but little to manufacturing – certainly in terms of R&D – and is shown by the interest in Rapid Prototyping which places the emphasis on design.
It is interesting to note that Japan, in particular, paid attention to making manufacturing affordable whereas, in this country, we seem to have big research centres interested in high value (cost) manufacturing; doing new things affordably can be very profitable – rather than using expensive machines suited to large companies.
I would like to hope that the (small) sums pushed at space launch vehicles will bear fruit and perhaps inspire some students with the manufacture of the thermal management technologies