If you have good practical skills, an eye for detail, or enjoy working with tools or machinery, then you may well consider a career in manufacturing.
Scotland’s manufacturing industry is diverse and specialises in the areas of food, computer, electronic and optical products, chemicals and chemical products.
There are approximately 2.7 million people1 employed in the manufacturing sector in the UK, accounting for around 8% of all employment, with a total UK economic output of 9.3%.4
Manufacturing involves many products from chemicals to computers, with many jobs on production lines and packing work. Clothing and textile jobs range from machine operation to production management and includes design-related and technical posts. In food and drink, you could be working in confectionery and bakery, meat processing or food science technology.
There is also work within engineering, chemicals and furniture manufacture, not to mention the printing industry.
To see the routes to getting into each of these sectors, take a look at our Career Pathway.
There are a wide variety of employers including:
Manufacturing is vital to Scotland’s economy, employing more than 202,000 people, accounting for around 8% of Scotland’s total workforce. ² Many Scottish firms produce some high quality products, particularly for export, like whisky, seafood, Scotch beef, cashmere and other luxury textiles, providing a significant number of jobs in Scotland.
According to a PwC report in 2023, Scottish manufacturing output per hour was 19% higher than the UK average, with a focus on the subsectors of food and drink (26%), chemicals (10.6%) and pharmaceuticals (8.4%), and highlighted Scotland’s strong performance in the hydrocarbons and oil industry. However, this research showed also that there was room for more growth in manufacturing productivity, which had a modest growth rate of 5.2%. 5
Scotland has a vibrant food and drink manufacturing industry and is the largest manufacturing sub sector, employing around 44,000 people across 1,295 businesses. It accounts for 26% of the Scottish manufacturing workforce, with a turnover of £10.7 billion - accounting for 29% of all Scottish manufacturing turnover. It is predicted that Scottish food and drink manufacturing will need 7,000 new recruits by 2033. ³
Last year the Scotch whisky industry accounted for 74% of Scottish food and drink exports and 22% of all UK food and drink exports. More than 41,000 people are employed in this industry with 151 operating Scotch whisky distilleries. It supports a further 25,000 jobs across the UK. 8
The Scottish space sector is a fast-growing industry, one of whose expertise areas is in manufacturing small satellites. It is expected to grow substantially, with the creation of over 12,000 new jobs by 2030, taking the national headcount to approximately 20,000 people working in this industry. 7
Tasty Careers, hosted by the National Skills Academy, is a great resource for careers in the food and drink manufacturing industry
1 Number of people employed in the manufacturing industry from 1st quarter 1997 to 1st quarter 2024, Statistica (July 2024)
2 Labour Market, 26 April 2024, Scotland’s Census
3 Scottish facts and stats, Food and Drink Federation (July 2024)
4 A6: Manufacturing, 23 May 2024, House of Commons Library The House of Commons Library
5 UK’s most productive manufacturing region’ – but PwC study shows there is more room for growth (Alistair Houghton, 27 September 2023), Insider
6 Sectoral Skills Assessment Food and Drink Manufacturing, October 2023, Skills Development Scotland
7 Scotland’s space sector set for lift-off with new investment partnership (18 June 2024), Scotlandis
8 Facts and Figures, Scotch Whisky Association (July 2024)
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