Number of UK factory workers rising at fastest rate for almost 50 years

CBI says post-lockdown surge likely to break output records but leaves industry with acute cost pressures

The number of people employed in Britain's factories rose at its fastest rate in almost half a century in the past three months as manufacturers sought to cope with a surge in post-lockdown order books, the CBI has said.

The business lobby group said jobs, investment, output, costs and prices were all rising rapidly in the strongest period of growth since the early to mid-1970s.

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