Manufacturing headed for recession
Thu 24 Jul 2008 at 3:40 PM
UK's manufacturing industry is headed for a technical recession, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned.
Unless output stabilises, 36,000 jobs could be on the line, it has said.
"Cost pressures have been notable for over four years but, in the past three months, they have been their most intense for nearly three decades, so it comes as little surprise that manufacturers are passing those costs on to customers," observed Ian Mcafferty, chief economic adviser.
It said it expected manufacturing activity to fall to the weakest balances recorded for at least five years.
The CBI's Industrial Trends Survey revealed despite a recent let up in redundancies, more than a quarter (27 per cent) of businesses expected to cut jobs.
Based on its results, the CBI forecasts that 10,000 jobs went in the second quarter and a further 26,000 were likely to be slashed in the third.
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