West Dorset bucked a regional trend in the manufacturing sector.
In the decade from 2006/2007 to 2016/2017 there was a fall of 41,200 in the numbers of workers employed in the manufacturing sector in the Dorset and Wiltshire region. The numbers fell from 296,600 to 255,400, a fall of 13.9 per cent.
The figures have been released by union GMB.
But West Dorset was one of four council authority areas to buck the trend, along with Wiltshire, Bournemouth and North Dorset.
There were 2,300 manufacturing jobs in West Dorset in 2006/2007, compared with 4,200 in 2016/17, an increase of 82.6 percent. Manufacturing workers make up 9.5 per cent of the workforce now, a rise from 4.7 per cent 10 years ago.
But other areas saw dramatic decreases in the number of manufacturing jobs.
Purbeck had 2,700 employed in the manufacturing sector between in 2006/07. By 2016/17 the figure was just 1,000, a drop of 63 per cent.
Manufacturing workers made up just 4.2 per cent of the total workforce in Purbeck, compared to 14 per cent in 2006/7.
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