A COMPELLING CASE FOR TRANSFORMATION From great to groundbreaking
By going from great to groundbreaking, the food and drink manufacturing sector has the potential to unlock £7–14bn 1 of extra value for the UK economy Based on an extensive literature review and study of economic and industrial indicators, the research programme set out to quantify the potential of the UK’s food and drink manufacturing industry by comparing its performance internationally and domestically with other advanced manufacturing sectors. These are the findings. 1. International comparisons: G7 economies and beyond It’s noteworthy that the UK is more productive than its G7 European counterparts while having fewer employees.
Our research found that the UK’s food and drink manufacturing industry performs relatively well amongst its G7 peers. Only North America and Italy have a more productive industry, while France and Germany have lower GVA per employee (Chart: Labour productivity in the food and drink manufacturing in the G7 economies). Our labour productivity measure is gross value added (GVA) per employee 2 , adjusting GVA figures to remove consumer goods price level differences between countries.
Expanding the same view to other European countries, the food and drink sectors in the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway are performing better than the UK. The UK sits above both Spain and Poland which have similarly sized workforces, but a smaller output per employee (Chart: Labour productivity in the food and drink manufacturing in European economies).
Labour productivity in the food and drink manufacturing in European economies, 2022 4
Labour productivity in the food and drink manufacturing in the G7 economies, 2022 3
UK relative to G7 countries
£120,000 UK relative to European economies
£120,000
2.5m
0.6m
£100,000
£100,000
0.5m
2.0m
£80,000
£80,000
0.4m
1.5m
£60,000
£60,000
0.3m
1.0m
£40,000
£40,000
0.2m
0.5m
£20,000
£20,000
0.1m
0.0m
£0
£0
0.0m
Adjusted GVA per employee Number of employees
Adjusted GVA per employee Number of employees
1. Opportunity calculated by multiplying the number of UK employees in the food and drink manufacturing industry by the median GVA per employee of Northern American countries (US and Canada), and the median GVA per employee of smaller, more successful European economies (Netherlands, Belgium, Norway). 2. Gross Value Added (GVA) measures the value generated in the production of goods and services. It is one measure of overall economic performance. GVA is displayed per employee for comparison across countries. 3. Data sourced from: UK GDP (low-level aggregates), Office for National Statistics (2024), JOBS03: Employee jobs by industry, Office for National Statistics (2024), JOBS04: Self-employment jobs by industry, Office for National Statistics (2024), Enterprises by detailed NACE Rev.2 activity and special aggregates, Eurostat (2022), Value Added by Industry, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (2024) Labour Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey, U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics (2024), Labour productivity and related measures by business sector industry and by non- commercial activity consistent with the industry accounts, Statistics Canada (2023), Canada GDP deflator, Trading Economics (2022), Price Level Indices, OECD (2022) 4. Data sourced from: UK GDP (low-level aggregates), Office for National Statistics (2024), JOBS03: Employee jobs by industry, Office for National Statistics (2024), JOBS04: Self-employment jobs by industry, Office for National Statistics (2024), Enterprises by detailed NACE Rev.2 activity and special aggregates, Eurostat (2022), Price Level Indices, OECD (2022)
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