New figures show the growth and success of the UK defence
industry, with growth in defence sector jobs and strong
investment in research and development.
This new report by the Joint Economic Data Hub (JEDHub) on the
defence sector's contribution to the UK economy comes a week
after the Prime Minister and Defence Secretary announced the
biggest rise in defence spending in a generation, and reiterates
a 69.9% increase in UK defence exports, increasing from £6.6
billion in 2021 to £11.2 billion in 2022.
The report demonstrates both the contribution of the defence
sector to the UK and the important role international trade makes
to its success, with over a third of turnover coming from
international sources in 2022.
The report shows the defence sector continues to be an attractive
employer, with surveyed recruitment growing by 17.8% in 2022. Of
the c. 84,000 surveyed defence Full Time Equivalent (FTEs)
employed across the UK, it is estimated that c. 54,000 were
supported by defence domestic revenue in 2022 and c. 30,000 jobs
by international revenue.
The JEDHub is a collaborative initiative between the UK Defence
Solutions Centre (UKDSC) and the Ministry of Defence, supported
by other government departments, industry, and academia to
improve understanding of the defence sector's contribution to the
UK economy.
This year's report comprises analysis informed by the survey
response of 22 UK defence companies as well as data from other
sources including the Office for National Statistics.
The latest JEDHub report provides additional insight into defence
Research and Development (R&D) investment, which accounted
for 60.5% of R&D activity within surveyed companies in 2022.
This equates to an investment of £842m of which industry R&D
funded initiatives accounted for £171.2m, an increase on the
previous year with £112.4m.
The UK government remains the largest source of R&D funding,
accounting for 69.8% since 2020. This demonstrates the importance
the Government has placed om developing the future of the defence
sector. Earlier this week Prime Minister launched a plan to steadily
increase defence spending, including research and development, to
2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade – reaching £87 billion a
year in 2030.
Chief Executive of ADS, Kevin Craven, said:
Through the collaboration between the Ministry of Defence, UK
Defence Solutions Centre and industry, the JEDHub third annual
economic report published today shows the significant regional
growth of our defence sector.
This industry is seeing a great increase in both high valued
skills and jobs with the median average salary being 33% above
the manufacturing average. This shows the defence industry's
essential contribution to the prosperity of the UK.
At a regional level, the report highlights the Northwest of
England as an epicentre for defence employment with 31.5% of the
surveyed workforce located there.
The report illustrates an 8% increase in domestic revenue
reaching £13.8bn in 2022. £12.3bn of this was from sales to the
UK MOD, demonstrating an increase of 8.9% from 2021 and
underlines the enduring importance of MOD as the largest defence
customer to the industry.
