Britain vs Vietnam The Real Cost of Manufacturing Decline and Rise

I've been teaching myself about deindustrialisation this week, comparing UK data with Vietnam's industrial expansion, and honestly, the contrast is kind of shocking.

Here's what jumped out: Britain's manufacturing share of GDP has fallen from around 30% in the 1970s to barely 9% today. Vietnam's gone the opposite direction manufacturing now accounts for over 25% of their economy and climbing. But it's not just about percentages. It's about what manufacturing does for an economy that we've forgotten about.

The productivity problem is real. Manufacturing generates spillovers: process improvement, automation, supply chain discipline. These spread through the economy. When Britain shifted toward services, particularly finance and retail, those spillovers disappeared. Many service jobs just scale headcount, not output. That's partly why UK productivity growth has been stagnant for fifteen years.

Then there's the regional hollowing out. Manufacturing plants were spread across the Midlands, North, Wales, Scotland. Their closure concentrated economic activity in London and the Southeast. I spent last weekend comparing regional GDP data between Newcastle and Manchester versus Greater London: the gaps are honestly wild. This imbalance now drives political tension, and "leveling up" remains more slogan than strategy.