Labour said that the manufacturing statistics were "terrible figures" but Mr Osborne said he had taken action to protect the sector.

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Electricity statistics, manufacturing surveys, price indexes, corporate results, and other indicators suggest growth in the low single digits.

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According to the Office of National Statistics, UK manufacturing grew by 0.8 % in February.

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Office for National Statistics data showed that manufacturing output fell by 0.5% in March, the sharpest rate of decline in six months.

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Here are the figures from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showing the percentage of Americans working in manufacturing.

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Based on statistics gathered by the US Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in the country's wide-ranging manufacturing sector fell below 12 million in 2009.

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But, as the PMI's manufacturing numbers confirm, the picture painted by these private surveys is a good deal stronger than that shown so far by the Office for National Statistics, which highlighted an alarming 1% fall in official manufacturing output in February.

BBC: Britain's zig-zag economy

Now, all three problems tend to indicate that the hollowing-out of British manufacturing in the decades before the 2007-8 crash is perhaps more serious than the official statistics would tend to indicate.

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Average wages in China's manufacturing sector rose 18.9% last year, according to China's National Bureau of Statistics.

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Other partial and full closures have yet to filter through to the statistics - including the 900 jobs losses announced in September at BAE's military jet manufacturing plant at Brough in East Yorkshire.

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After a weak ADP private sector reading and indications the slowing manufacturing and consumption, along with the sequester, could weigh on the economy, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed nonfarm payrolls rose by 165, 000 in April, while the February and March numbers were upwardly revised by 114, 000, as my colleague Abram Brown reported.

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