Chapter IV. Industrial Production

Extract

Total industrial production (excluding output of oil and gas) and manufacturing production were almost unchanged in 1979 (table 1). This is rather below what might have been expected to accompany a revival of personal income which increased consumption by 4 per cent. The pattern of output through the year was strongly influenced by the weather, which reduced output in the first quarter, and by strikes by the lorry drivers in the first quarter and by engineering and car workers in the third. The fall in output in the first quarter was offset by a high level in the summer, but after the third quarter strikes the level in the fourth quarter recovered to only about ½ per cent above the end-1978 level.