This document discusses re-industrializing Scotland's manufacturing sector. It provides data showing that while Scotland's manufacturing output as a percentage of GDP was once high, it has declined significantly. It also shows that Scotland's output per capita and overall manufacturing output rank below other major manufacturing nations. The document suggests several factors that have contributed to the UK's relatively poor manufacturing performance, such as a lack of long-term political support and a complacent attitude toward ownership. It argues that high labor costs are not the primary issue, as Scotland's hourly wages are comparable or lower than other EU nations. The document concludes by stating that a vibrant manufacturing base is important for creating a strong middle class and a more equitable society.

1. Re-industrialising Scotland
Stephen Boyd, STUC
Decent Work, Dignified Lives
15 October 2014

2. Manufacturing output as % of GDP

3. World’s biggest manufacturing nations
by output in 2011
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Output per capita
Rank/% of national output
Output rank % of national output Output per capita

4. How to explain UK’s relatively poor
performance?
• Lack of political support
• Endemic short-termism
• The ‘imperial overhang’
• Complacent attitude to ownership and
control
• skills
…not primarily a story of high costs…

5. Hourly labour costs in euros, EU 28,
2013
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Whole Economy Industry Services

6. Protection of permanent workers against
individual and collective dismissal, OECD 2013
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
Individual dismissals Collective dismissals

7. Product market regulation and barriers
to trade and investment, OECD, 2013

8. “Indeed, the manufacturing sector is
also where the world’s middle classes
take shape and grow. Without a vibrant
manufacturing base, societies tend to
divide between rich and poor – those
who have access to steady, well-paying
jobs, and those whose jobs are less
secure and lives more precarious.
Manufacturing may ultimately be
central to the vigor of a nation’s
democracy”.
Dani Rodrik, 2011