A document just out from the UK government’s Scottish Office information directorate describes the fortunes of the electronics industry in Scotland in terms of employment, output, productivity and capital investment. According to the figures given by the Office’s electronic database and register of employment, employment in the industry has risen every year since 1985 and now totals 47,000, with 18,000 in other electronics, 12,000 in data processing and electronics components. In contrast, a slump of 25% in instrument engineering was recorded. ‘Other electronics’ covers a plethora of products, including alarms and signalling equipment, telegraph and telephone apparatus and equipment, radio and electronic capital goods and electronic consumer goods. The 1979-1989 period was not a decade of unalloyed success however, because although 114 new electronics plants were opened with the creation of 10,900 jobs, and 64 existing plants expanded with the creation of 10,000 new jobs, 65 firms shut up shop, with the loss of 12,200 jobs. Analysis of output per sector reveals that 30% per annum growth was achieved by data processing and 10% for electronics components. Marked differences between the sectors evolved between 1989 and 1990, with a 17% increase in the electronics components sector as compared with a 15% drop in other electronics. Differences were also recorded in the productivity levels of the various sectors between 1983 and 1990, with a massive 310% increase in data processing as against a fall of 4% in instrument engineering. Yet by 1990, the reverse was so, with data processing showing a fall in productivity and instrument engineering a 18% increase. By 1988 net capital expenditure by the electronics industry in Scotland amounted to nearly UKP202m, representing a quarter of total Scottish manufacturing investment. Graham Cook, North America specialist for the Scottish Office’s Locate in Scotland scheme said that Americans choose Scotland primarily in order to develop a base in European markets. He explained that cheaper labour costs, better quality labour and government grants related to job creation attracted American companies to the region. He added that Americans ‘seem to be happy’ in Scotland, reasoning that they ‘fit in well with the people and lifestyle’ and ‘have a similar approach to business’, in adhering to the puritan work ethic.
