Gross value added by industry sector

Gross value added (GVA) by industry sector measures the increase in the value of the economy generated from the production of goods and services across industrial sectors, based on the location of the workplace. GVA can be calculated by estimating the value of goods and services produced minus the value of the inputs used to create them (production) or the profits from business, household income and the government tax intake from the production of goods and services (income). The annual balanced GVA figures combine information from both measures to provide the best estimate of GVA.

The GVA figures are at current market prices, meaning that they are not adjusted for inflation. The real terms change in GVA figures reflect the annual change in GVA, adjusted to remove the effects of inflation. Some caution should be used when interpreting figures for smaller geographies (further information is provided in the 'Limitations' section below).

Total annual balanced GVA figures for Lancashire are provided in the gross value added article. An associated economic measure, gross domestic product (GDP), combines the estimate of GVA with taxes (including value added tax) and subsidies on the produced goods and services.

The latest annual balanced GVA figures by industry sector are for 2023 and are provisional.

Key figures

• Manufacturing, wholesale retail and trade, real estate, and health and social work accounted for a little over half (54.4%) of total GVA in Lancashire-12 (Lancashire-14 = 54.8%).
• Manufacturing is a key sector contributing to GVA locally, accounting for the largest percentage of total GVA in Lancashire-12 (18.7%) and Lancashire-14 (17.8%). This is considerably higher than England (8.9%) and reflects the substantial aerospace industry in Lancashire.
• Financial and insurance services, information and communication services, and professional, scientific and technical services account for a smaller proportion of total GVA in both Lancashire-12 (10.6%) and Lancashire-14 (10.3%) compared to England (24.3%).

Annual changes in GVA

• Compared to 2022, manufacturing GVA fell by 2.0% in Lancashire-12, while England saw a 1.0% growth in manufacturing GVA. This was smaller than the 4.7% reduction seen between 2021 to 2022, but still below the average annual growth of 1.7% in Lancashire-12.
• Wholesale retail and trade saw a 0.4% reduction in GVA compared to the previous year. This was smaller than the fall seen in England of 0.9% but was below the Lancashire-12 average annual growth of 2.1%.
• Real estate GVA grew by 2.7% in Lancashire-12 compared to the previous year. This was above the growth seen in England (0.1%) and above the average growth seen in Lancashire-12 (1.2%).
• The largest annual real terms increases in the percentage of total GVA in Lancashire-12 were seen in the utilities sector (17.8%), administrative and support services (7.1%) and agriculture, fishing and mining sectors (7.1%). The largest decrease was seen in the activities of households sector (21.6%).

Source: Annual balanced estimates of gross value added (GVA(B)) for local authority districts (LAD) and international territorial levels (ITL) from the Office for National Statistics.

Things you need to know about the data

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes annual balanced estimates of GVA by industry sector for subnational areas of the United Kingdom, including estimates for the Lancashire-14 International Territorial Level (ITL) 2 sub-region, the six smaller Lancashire ITL3 areas and the 14 Lancashire local authority areas. Further information on Lancashire's geographies can be found on the geography article.

The GVA figures are workplace-based, meaning that they are allocated to the region in which the economic activity takes place. The UK GVA figures include extra-regio (activity that cannot be assigned to a specific country or region).

The balanced estimates of GVA combine two approaches to measuring GVA. Income GVA estimates are calculated by adding up the income generated by individuals or corporations in the production of goods and services whilst the production approach estimates GVA by calculating the total output of goods and services less the value of goods and services used up in the production process. A balanced approach evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of these two opposing approaches and gives them an appropriate weighting in informing a single best estimate of GVA.

The real terms change in GVA figures, or chained volume measures (CVM) of GVA, are calculated using chain-linking methods to remove the impact of inflation.

Industry sectors

The GVA by industry sector figures use the UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007 to categorise industrial activities. The UK SIC 2007 includes A to U sections, capturing broad industrial sectors. The sections can be further broken down into two-digit divisions, three-digit groups, four-digit classes and five-digit subclasses. However, a full breakdown of activity is not published due to data limitations. Full details on the UK SIC 2007 can be found on the ONS page.

Limitations

At the local authority district level and smaller ITL3 areas, in addition to smaller industry sectors and subsectors, some GVA figures can be volatile owing to the small nature of the areas. Where erratic movements are evident in the time series you should use caution when interpreting the data.

Page updated 17 September 2025