BRIEF 3 PART I
BRIEF FOR VISIT TO HONG KONG BY MINISTER FOR TRADE
30 AUGUST 5 SEPTEMBER 1980
TEXTILES BRIEF
UK INDUSTRY, SIZE, STATE AND SHAPE
1
The textile and clothing industries today account for about 2% of the UK's gross domestic product, 5% of exports and 10% of employment in manufacturing industry.
2
They are two highly diversified industries with many branches manmade fibre production, spinning and weaving, knitting, carpet manufacture, dyeing, printing and the making up of clothing and other products. Companies range from the massive multinational groups (Courtaulds, ICI) to tiny clothing firms. Thus the many problems faced by the industry are seldom common to all its components
3
The industry has lost more than 700,000 jobs since 1950. Both employment and capacity continue to contract at an accelerating pace. Total employment in Great Britain stood at about 675,000 in June after a decline of some 30,000 in 1979 and a further loss of nearly 50,000 jobs in the first half of 1980. Some 168 mills closed in 1979 and announcements of closures are currently running at over double this rate. These job losses tend to be concentrated in particular areas: Northern Ireland, where textiles and clothing (about 44,000 jobs) account for 32% of manufacturing employment; Yorkshire, where the bulk of the wool textile sector is located; and the North West, with 21% of all jobs in the industry (mainly concerned with the spinning, weaving and finishing of cotton and other fibres on the cotton system). Textiles and clothing received £18m under the Temporary Short Time Working Compensation Scheme between April 1979 and June 1980, when 32,000 jobs in the industry
were receiving this support.
4
The wool textile industry is at present facing very serious
difficulties. It has been in decline for many years and both its workforce and production by volume have been virtually halved in ten years. Currently, 67,000 workers are employed in the sector and value of production in 1979 was over £1,000m.