In case you weren’t aware, the month of May has been designated as Manufacturing Month, which has been created so we can celebrate all the excellent businesses involved in manufacturing across Northern Ireland, as well as all the people who work in the sector and drive it forward so successfully.
Indeed they drive it forward so successfully that the manufacturing sector has grown over 4 times faster than in the rest of the UK, and it accounts for over 10% of direct employment in NI and over 15% of gross value added. There are also over 150,000 jobs supported elsewhere in the economy here, through supply chain and indirect jobs, wholly supported by the value of wages paid by the sector. It really is a great success story.
Manufacturing Jobs Remain Some Of The Most Fulfilling In NI
There is a very good article by Stephen Kelly, who is chief executive at Manufacturing NI, on the Irish News website on this subject. He writes about how the sector continues to grow but points out that there are serious challenges ahead. Here are some snippets from the article:
“Thanks to innovative leaders and an industrious workforce, our manufacturing sector is a success story. The strong focus on problem solving, R&D investment, and continuous improvement ensures the sector continues to grow and the jobs remain some of the most fulfilling in Northern Ireland.
“The sector is acutely aware of the challenges facing it, including productivity and the availability of labour, decarbonisation, and changing tax landscapes, as well as some of the most expensive energy prices in Europe.
“Manufacturing Month, and indeed our Anchor High Leadership Summit, is a platform to challenge our manufacturing leaders to think differently about their businesses. Despite facing a challenging landscape, our vibrant manufacturers demonstrate remarkable resilience, embrace change, and capture opportunities.
“Our ‘makers’ recognise that while ‘trade wars’ might be beyond the control of the powers that be here – and policy choices such as national insurance and inheritance tax, are for the UK Government – areas such as affordable, competitive energy, a skills environment that meets the needs of the economy, and investing in infrastructure, are not.
“For decades, manufacturing has created good jobs distributed across NI’s regions, but to deliver on the Executive’s productivity and net zero ambitions, we require intervention and long-term policy stability and support for private investment.
“Even in times of strife elsewhere in the economy, we have shown manufacturing can power a productive future for Northern Ireland; if the Executive and UK Government work with us, we can truly tap into the sector’s potential to deliver on growth and economic goals.”
Well done to all who are involved in the sector and have made it such a success story for Northern Ireland.
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