UK manufacturing employment growth

UK manufacturing employment growth dropped to its slowest rate in two years, in the three months to July, a survey by the Confederation of British Industry, CBI, revealed, Monday. The survey showed that the growth in demand for goods had eased in the quarter to July. New orders grew for the third successive quarter, though slower than in the previous six months, while manufacturing output growth slowed in the quarter to July. The CBI is the UK''s leading business organization, speaking for some 240,000 businesses that together employ around a third of the private sector workforce. The Regional Trends Survey, conducted by the CBI and Experian, were extracted from the 576 replies to the CBI''s Industrial Trends Survey in July. In the three months to July, fully half of UK manufacturers were working at full capacity, the survey revealed. As a result, job cuts in the manufacturing sector slowed to 5,000, much lower than the average of 30,000 job cuts every quarter since 2003. Four of eleven UK regions actually saw gains in employment. Job losses were heaviest in the West Midlands, London and the South East and the South West. Export growth had slowed down among most of the regions, the report said. Manufacturing costs increased in the quarter to July, reversing an earlier decline, pushed mainly by the high price of oil. However, firms were confident of increasing prices to offset rising costs, the survey found.The Northeast region witnessed robust growth in orders, output, employment and investment intentions while prices for both domestic and exports markets were strong. The metals and engineering industries in the West Midlands region was singled out by the survey for strong performance."The manufacturing sector''s revival is continuing, though the rate of growth has slowed somewhat. With more firms now working flat out than at any time since early 2006, there has been a very welcome effect on jobs," said Doug Godden, head of economic and fiscal policy at the CBI.