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Gloucestershire Business News

Big fall in UK manufacturing jobs

Fewer than one in 10 people in the UK now work in manufacturing and even fewer are employed in construction.

In contrast, four out of five people work in service industries, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation.

This covers everything from bank workers, to plumbers and restaurant staff.

The biggest growth has been in public administration, education, and health, according to the report.

Over the same period the biggest fall has been in manufacturing, where the share of jobs has halved since the 1990s. The sector now provides employment for just under three million workers.

At the start of the 1970s, a little over one third of workers were women.

But rapid growth in female employment during the 1970s and 1980s means that women now make up almost half of the workforce.

However, there are still big challenges in terms of how men and women experience work, like the enduring gender pay gap - which is 18 per cent for all workers and nine per cent among full-time staff.

More recently, the workforce has also grown older, says the Resolution Foundation..

Nearly one in three people in work are now aged 50 and over, compared to just over one in five back in 1992. This trend is being driven by rising life expectancy, the progress of the large baby boomer generation through their careers and policy changes like the increasing state pension age.

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