Is deindustrialisation in the U.K an undesirable process?

The first 200 words of this essay...

Is deindustrialisation in the U.K an undesirable process?

How has the mechanisation of Britain's industrial sector affected the national economy and the British population? In the early 1980's, many people became concerned with the decline of manufacturing employment and the sharp rise in the share of jobs in services. This was called deindustrialisation. Since the 1980's, the number of people employed in manufacturing in the U.K has decreased rapidly. In 1979, 7 million people were employed in manufacturing, in 2000 this figure has dropped to just 4 million, a decrease of 42%. In the early 70's, secondary activities were relatively important in MEDC's (more economically developed countries) but this has declined in favour of the more service based industries like catering and health.

We can assume that much of this is due to the increasing advances in new technology, which allow the development of mechanisation in the industrial sector and lessens the need for a large labour force. We could also look at the change in job description as people change from doing the tasks themselves to operating robots, because this is also a cause of industrial change. In order to ascertain whether deindustrialisation is undesirable