Public perceptions of manufacturing improved after positive pandemic media coverage

The study of 2,436 people shows that most of the general public thinks manufacturing is hugely important to the future of the UK economy.

Perceptions about pay, working conditions and career prospects have also improved, according to the survey Perceptions vs Reality carried out by Savanta for Make UK and Sheffield Hallam University.

In the last survey in 2018, people cited declinist and negative media coverage, and an overall feeling that Britain didn’t “make things any more”. Now, 93 per cent said they feel manufacturing is critical to growing the UK economy, compared with 70 per cent five years ago.

The turning point was COVID and the media coverage of manufacturing’s response, which highlighted the automotive sector building ventilators for the NHS, clothing and textile companies making medical gowns and facemasks, and food and drink factories making hand sanitisers and ensuring that household needs were met. Britain’s pharmaceutical companies led the way in producing the vaccines that let life return to normal.