The Work Foundation argues the development of the ‘manu-service' sector is one of the best hopes for economic upturn and urges the Government to implement a short-time working scheme to help manufacturers avoid making redundancies.
Ian Brinkley, associate director at The Work Foundation, said: "The question needs asking - what are we going to live on in the future? Modern manufacturing is once again facing a battering from the recession, but it would be a big mistake just to write the sector off.
"We need to preserve as much of the industrial base as possible because once it is lost it is nearly impossible to get back again. Despite the mythmaking around the demise of manufacturing, the sector remains extremely important for jobs, exports and GDP."
Work Foundation urges Government to save manufacturing for economic upturn
If the Government is serious about helping the economy, it must extend loan guarantees and emergency funding to the manufacturing sector, according to The Work Foundation.
