Job Cut Warning From Manufacturing Industry

The Engineering Employers Federation has issued a new statement declaring that the government needs to take direct action to counter the economic slowdown and limit the losses in manufacturing jobs. This statement was released after the EEF had conducted a survey of 800 companies. The results showed that job losses were expected universally with a large decline in expected growth throughout the manufacturing industry.

A separate analysis found that 20% of manufacturers had job cuts in August. This corresponds with the manufacturing PMI survey by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, which found consistent cuts in manufacturing jobs for the past five months.

The overall PMI study did show a slight boost in the manufacturing sector after the July study saw that the sector was in a slump that was unrivaled in the past 10 years. It’s a hollow victory though, since their survey still showed significant drops in new orders alongside rising costs. The government responded with promises that they were trying to formulate new ideas that could aid the industry. It goes along with the ever increasing pressure for the ministers to do anything to reduce the economic slowdown and hopefully prevent a feared recession.

Leading economists are already issuing warnings about negative figures for the next year. The EEF’s study seems to support this as they observed that many employment and general investment programs had reversed their previous growth. The study found that just a few firms in London, the South East, and eastern England had plans to bring on any new employees.

The EEF believed that this was a particularly bad sign given the industry’s previous strength against the country’s credit issues. It seems that manufacturing is at its breaking point. Domestic orders are falling quickly with export orders thankfully remaining constant for the time being. It comes at a bad time too, as the Bank of England is simply unable to do much with direct government aid as the only real option. Only by removing the domestic obstacles can they expect the industry to survive.

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