Manufacturing sector offers optimism for year ahead
The manufacturing sector ended 2021 with further growth of production, new orders and employment but logistic disruptions and staff shortages hindered the pace of expansion.
These are the findings of IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which dipped slightly in December to 57.9 compared to 58.1 in November. A score of more than 50 indicates an expansion and the PMI has remained above the 50 mark for 19 months.
Output rose across the consumer, intermediate and investment goods sectors during December, with the overall pace of expansion improving to a four-month high. Increased output was underpinned by intakes of new business as the domestic market continued to strengthen.
Overall export figures remained negative for the fourth consecutive month although export demand for UK capital goods rose at the quickest pace since August. Manufacturers indicated that logistic issues, Brexit rules and the threat of further COVID restrictions (in the UK and abroad) had struck export demand at the end of the year.
Manufacturing employment increased for the twelfth successive month in December, with companies linking this to meeting improved demand, rising backlogs and efforts to address staff shortages.
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Comment: Engineers must adapt to AI or fall behind
A fascinating piece and nice to see a broad discussion beyond GenAI and the hype bandwagon. AI (all flavours) like many things invented or used by...