A new ranking of the world’s most competitive manufacturing nations has placed Britain fourth behind China, US and South Korea.
The new ranking was compiled by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) using a proprietary index that focuses on four major factors: wages, productivity growth, energy costs and exchange rates.
In putting the list together BC found that low cost manufacturing economies are coming “under pressure” from “rising star” nations – particularly the US.
The USA’s competitiveness as a global manufacturing power has been boosted thanks to to falling domestic natural gas prices, rising worker productivity and a lack of upward wage pressure according to BCG.
Furthermore, US competitiveness has risen in-spite of falling employment in production activities – the number of people employed in industrial jobs in the US has fallen by around 7.5 million since 1979 when employment in the sector was at its zenith.
Meanwhile, laggardly productivity growth in China, and other low cost economies including the Czech Republic and Poland, is allowing a comeback opportunity for higher wage locations.
The Top 10 most competitive manufacturing nations in BCGs list are as follows:
1. China
2. United States
3. South Korea
4. United Kingdom
5. Japan
6. Netherlands
7. Germany
8. Italy
9. Belgium
10. France
