The UK manufacturing sector has declined significantly over the last Essay

The UK manufacturing sector has declined significantly over the last 40 years - Essay Example This structural change had created disturbances in the labour market as jobs had to be redistributed from declining to growing sectors leading to significant shifts in the design of industrial specialisation at both the national and regional level (Robson 2006). Changing patterns of domestic demand—Pattern of domestic demand saw changes due to economic development. With the maturity of the economy the consumer demand changed from goods to services. Due to increased presence of public sector services, it led to growth of tertiary sector. The shift in UK demand for manufactured goods grew faster than expected, which was hardly relevant for a bigger changeover for the UK industries producing goods. As the pattern of demand is also impacted by changes in the age structure of population, it affected the demographic pattern by 1.68M less people in the age group of 16-24 in 1996 in comparison to 1981. Growth in education, recreation and entertainment sectors suffered due to lack of resources. Statistics show that between 1983-1993, the total actual consumer spending at 1990 prices increased by 33.5% but on recreation, entertainment and education it increased by 55% while on food items it went up only by 11.3% (Lam 2010). Changes in the availability of resources—the availability of resources, as it happened very unexpectedly with oil finding in 1973 and 1979 when OPEC decreased the production of oil, its prices shot upward. It directly affected the substitutes and compliments prices like coal, gas and cars. It affected the production and employment in energy-related industries such as steel industry (Griffith 2003). International competition and globalisation—has been a force affecting the economic structure of the UK. Due to changing consumer tastes, introduction of new products and reducing comparative costs, economic functions got reallocated globally. For example, the UK motor-cycle industry could not meet the standards,