The South-East now employs more manufacturing workers than any other part of Britain, overtaking traditional industrial regions such as the West Midlands, figures showed.
The GMB union said its research highlighted the decline in manufacturing jobs in the former industrial heartlands.
A total of 693,000 workers in the South-East are employed in manufacturing, almost 20 per cent of Britain's manufacturing workforce.
The West Midlands was the second highest employer of manufacturing jobs (469,000), followed by the North West (419,000), East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber (both 367,000).
East Anglia has the lowest number of manufacturing workers at 157,000, followed by Wales (185,000) and The North (213,000).
The proportion of the British workforce employed in manufacturing is 13.6 per cent.
Surrey has 54,000 manufacturing jobs, compared with 14,000 in Manchester, the figures showed.
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