The downturn in the UK’s manufacturing sector eased significantly in August, with employment in the month rising for the second month consecutively.

Jobs rose at smaller and medium-sized employers, but continued to fall at larger-scale producers.

In larger firms where an increase in employment was reported, this mainly reflected ongoing efforts to clear backlogs of work, according to the Markit/CIPS Manufacturing PMI survey, which uses data from a selection of 600 industrial companies.

Manufacturing production fell in the month of August, but by a much lower level than in July, and the overall PMI for the sector rose from 45.2 to 49.5, where any number below 50 indicates recession, and 50-plus suggests growth.