Manufacturing Contract Job Trends in Manchester

Manufacturing
North West > Manchester

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Manufacturing in contract job vacancies in Manchester. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Manufacturing over the 6 months leading up to 17 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 66 69 65
Rank change year-on-year +3 -4 +25
Contract jobs citing Manufacturing 32 12 30
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 2.38% 1.18% 1.90%
As % of the General category 4.10% 1.97% 3.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 13 6 21
10th Percentile - £400 £375
25th Percentile £170 £503 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £560 £583
Median % change year-on-year -15.18% -3.86% +16.50%
75th Percentile £575 £619 £738
90th Percentile £780 £713 -
North West median daily rate £550 £565 £510
% change year-on-year -2.65% +10.78% +12.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 5 5
10th Percentile £25.60 £26.85 £24.14
25th Percentile £30.00 £30.75 £24.19
Median hourly rate £55.00 £33.00 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +66.67% +10.00% -29.19%
75th Percentile £65.00 - -
90th Percentile £72.75 £35.40 £53.33
North West median hourly rate £30.25 £32.25 £37.18
% change year-on-year -6.22% -13.26% -12.24%

All General Skills
Manchester

Manufacturing falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills in Manchester.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 780 609 792
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester 58.04% 60.00% 50.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 540 365 532
10th Percentile £305 £263 £265
25th Percentile £375 £375 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £460 £488
Median % change year-on-year -2.17% -5.64% +1.56%
75th Percentile £551 £575 £582
90th Percentile £630 £682 £675
North West median daily rate £450 £475 £500
% change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 30 58
10th Percentile £15.62 £15.81 £12.17
25th Percentile £18.50 £22.00 £13.26
Median hourly rate £27.08 £32.50 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year -16.69% +83.41% -34.82%
75th Percentile £55.63 £33.75 £29.13
90th Percentile £76.00 £60.00 £52.25
North West median hourly rate £29.60 £27.50 £19.25
% change year-on-year +7.64% +42.86% -23.00%

Manufacturing
Job Vacancy Trend in Manchester

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Manufacturing relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester.

Manufacturing job vacancy trend in Manchester

Manufacturing
Daily Rate Trend in Manchester

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Manufacturing.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Manufacturing

Manufacturing
Daily Rate Histogram in Manchester

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Manufacturing in Manchester over the 6 months to 17 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Manufacturing in Manchester

Manufacturing
Hourly Rate Trend in Manchester

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Manufacturing.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Manufacturing

Manufacturing
Hourly Rate Histogram in Manchester

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Manufacturing in Manchester over the 6 months to 17 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Manufacturing in Manchester

Manufacturing
Contract Job Locations in Manchester

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Manufacturing within the Manchester region over the 6 months to 17 February 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Bolton +4 7 - - 10
Cheadle - 1 £475 - 1
Rochdale - 1 - - 4
Manufacturing
North West

Manufacturing
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Manchester by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 1 (3.13%) Apache Airflow
1 1 (3.13%) CMS
1 1 (3.13%) SharePoint
Applications
1 8 (25.00%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (12.50%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (9.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (6.25%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (6.25%) MS Visio
5 1 (3.13%) Spreadsheet
5 1 (3.13%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 2 (6.25%) Dynamics AX
1 2 (6.25%) Primavera
1 2 (6.25%) SAP MM
2 1 (3.13%) ENOVIA
2 1 (3.13%) SAP CO
2 1 (3.13%) SAP FI
2 1 (3.13%) SAP FI/CO
2 1 (3.13%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (3.13%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 5 (15.63%) Microsoft 365
2 2 (6.25%) AWS
2 2 (6.25%) Dynamics 365
3 1 (3.13%) Azure
3 1 (3.13%) GCP
3 1 (3.13%) Lucidchart
3 1 (3.13%) Power Platform
3 1 (3.13%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 5 (15.63%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (6.25%) SQL Server
1 2 (6.25%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (3.13%) Neo4j
2 1 (3.13%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 1 (3.13%) Hudson
1 1 (3.13%) Rational DOORS
General
1 14 (43.75%) Finance
2 11 (34.38%) Electronics
3 7 (21.88%) Marketing
3 7 (21.88%) Public Sector
3 7 (21.88%) Telecoms
4 6 (18.75%) Social Skills
5 3 (9.38%) Pharmaceutical
6 2 (6.25%) Analytical Skills
7 1 (3.13%) Agriculture
7 1 (3.13%) Law
7 1 (3.13%) Retail
Job Titles
1 6 (18.75%) IT Support
2 5 (15.63%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
2 5 (15.63%) 2nd Line Support
2 5 (15.63%) Analyst
2 5 (15.63%) Desktop Support
2 5 (15.63%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
3 4 (12.50%) Consultant
3 4 (12.50%) Data Analyst
4 3 (9.38%) Architect
4 3 (9.38%) Project Manager
5 2 (6.25%) Business Development Manager
5 2 (6.25%) Business Manager
5 2 (6.25%) Communications Manager
5 2 (6.25%) Data Engineer
5 2 (6.25%) Development Manager
5 2 (6.25%) Dynamics AX Architect
5 2 (6.25%) Dynamics AX Consultant
5 2 (6.25%) Lead
5 2 (6.25%) Systems Architect
6 1 (3.13%) Senior
Miscellaneous
1 5 (15.63%) Data Centre
2 3 (9.38%) Life Science
3 2 (6.25%) Renewable Energy
4 1 (3.13%) AI Agents
4 1 (3.13%) Data Fabric
4 1 (3.13%) Data Protection Act
4 1 (3.13%) FMCG
4 1 (3.13%) Management Information System
4 1 (3.13%) Manufacturing Execution System
Operating Systems
1 5 (15.63%) Android
1 5 (15.63%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 8 (25.00%) Business Intelligence
1 8 (25.00%) Programme Management
2 7 (21.88%) Digital Marketing
3 6 (18.75%) Project Management
4 5 (15.63%) Data Analysis
4 5 (15.63%) ERP
4 5 (15.63%) Problem-Solving
5 4 (12.50%) Analytics
5 4 (12.50%) Data Collection
5 4 (12.50%) Mentoring
5 4 (12.50%) Performance Measurement
5 4 (12.50%) Stakeholder Management
6 3 (9.38%) Change Management
6 3 (9.38%) Data Management
6 3 (9.38%) Data Pipeline
6 3 (9.38%) ETL
6 3 (9.38%) Migration
7 2 (6.25%) Collaborative Culture
7 2 (6.25%) Decision-Making
7 2 (6.25%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 3 (9.38%) Python
1 3 (9.38%) SQL
2 2 (6.25%) X++
3 1 (3.13%) C
3 1 (3.13%) C++
3 1 (3.13%) Java
Qualifications
1 10 (31.25%) SC Cleared
1 10 (31.25%) Security Cleared
2 3 (9.38%) Degree
3 1 (3.13%) AWS Certification
3 1 (3.13%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
3 1 (3.13%) Azure Certification
3 1 (3.13%) BPSS Clearance
3 1 (3.13%) PMI Certification
3 1 (3.13%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (12.50%) QA
2 2 (6.25%) Data Quality
3 1 (3.13%) IEC 61508
3 1 (3.13%) ISO 26262
3 1 (3.13%) PMBOK
3 1 (3.13%) PMO
Vendors
1 13 (40.63%) SAP
2 6 (18.75%) Microsoft
3 5 (15.63%) Apple
3 5 (15.63%) Cisco
3 5 (15.63%) Dell
3 5 (15.63%) HP
4 2 (6.25%) IFS
5 1 (3.13%) OpenText
5 1 (3.13%) PTC
5 1 (3.13%) Siemens