Manufacturing is bracing itself for more gloomy times following the latest quarterly Regional Trends Survey published by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and business analyst Experian.

Rising costs caused by higher oil and gas prices and weak demand for goods has undermined output and confidence across the UK.

Output fell in 2005, the first annual decline in three years, while the government's most recent Annual Business Inquiry revealed that more than 970,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since 1997.

Kay Alexander, managing director of technical recruiter John Prodger Recruitment, says the firm has halved its team working on the manufacturing sector.

“The jobs have gone overseas, either to the old Eastern Bloc or to Turkey and the Far East, and this has changed the nature of the skills and experience required,” she said.

“Nowadays a lot of manufacturing engineers will need to be flexible around travelling, have more IT skills, and be able to communicate to different people, often in a foreign language.”