What is a manufacturing job?

Policy initiatives in the UK targeting manufacturing industries have for a number of years been driven by a perceived importance of this sector to the economy. In order to target such policies, it is important to establish the true size of this sector and to accurately quantify its decline. This, as well as many other economic analyses, relies upon classification of businesses into exclusive industrial categories. This paper considers whether standard methods of enterprise classification may mask the numbers and true activity of workers who are employed by so-called ‘manufacturers’. Calculating the extent of this effect, we estimate that the number of manufacturing jobs ‘hidden’ within the service sector is more than offset by service sector jobs hidden within manufacturing. This is important for government policies which target manufacturing jobs. We therefore consider whether protecting ‘manufacturing’ is a meaningful policy target. This analysis uses data from the UK official statistics system. However, given the methodological similarity across countries, particularly in the EU, the findings here are relevant for policy analysis in many countries.