Norfolk has proved it has a strong manufacturing base after it has bucked national trends as the only county in the region to have increase the number of jobs in the sector during the recession.
Across the East of England 47,400 manufacturing jobs have been lost, according to a new study by the GMB out today, but Norfolk saw an increase in manufacturing sector jobs of 4,500 from 44,100 in June 2006 to 48,600 in June 2011.
Hertfordshire was hit hardest in the region with a loss of 12,000 manufacturing jobs during the recession.
In the UK as a whole the recession has cost 706,300 manufacturing jobs, an average of 3,398 per week.
In 2006/7 there were 3,546,100 people employed in manufacturing industry in the UK. The latest figures shows employment of 2,839,800 in 2010/11. This fall is on top of the 1.25m fall between 1994/5 and 2006/7.
All these figures come from a new GMB study of official data released by the ONS.
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