An industry panel featuring younger employees working in the city's manufacturing sector stole the show at Leeds City College as employers, skills and training providers came together for the official launch of the 2026 Leeds Manufacturing Festival.

The festival sees manufacturing and engineering employers across Leeds step up their efforts to tackle the sector’s ongoing skills shortage, as youth unemployment reaches a ten-year high.

There was a full house for the festival launch, which took place last week (Wed 11/3/26) at Leeds City College Printworks Campus. The festival itself features an expanded programme designed to connect businesses directly with young people and offer clear routes into careers through T Levels and industry placements, apprenticeships and graduate recruitment.

With the unemployment rate for 16-24-year-olds climbing to 16%, the highest in more than a decade, at the end of 2025, festival organisers say there has never been a more crucial time to link young people with employers who are actively recruiting and investing in future talent.

“Leeds Manufacturing Festival is about changing attitudes to manufacturing, bringing employers and students together, giving young people first-hand experience of the industry, and helping businesses connect with individuals who are keen to learn, develop and build a career." Ben Wilson, MPM Group

The festival is backed by a growing network of manufacturers and engineering firms, including some of the biggest names in manufacturing, as well as many smaller firms, all of whom are opening their doors to students, parents and teaching staff through site visits, careers panels and hands-on experiences. The aim is to help employers build a strong pipeline of skilled workers, while giving young people a better understanding of the vast range of career opportunities available in modern manufacturing.

Award winning Leeds firms including textiles manufacturer AW Hainsworth, medical technology businesses Brandon Medical and Kirkstall Precision Engineering, branded workwear manufacturer Involution and Normanton-based Bensons Panels are among the employers backing this year’s festival, joining forces with a host of smaller companies in the drive to attract high quality younger candidates to the industry.

Daniel Paterson, director of policy and public affairs at Make UK, which supports and champions UK manufacturing, was part of the line-up of industry experts speaking at the launch. 

“Manufacturing offers diverse, rewarding, and well-paid careers, with average wages around 8% higher than across the economy as a whole,” he said.

“Initiatives like the Leeds Manufacturing Festival have been shown to be incredibly effective in getting that message across to young people. Make UK is really pleased to be involved again this year with the festival, which goes from strength to strength in its scope and ambition. At a time when youth unemployment is rising it is more important than ever to get that message out there.”

Ben Wilson, managing director of MPM Group and festival spokesperson, said: “Leeds Manufacturing Festival is about changing attitudes to manufacturing, bringing employers and students together, giving young people first-hand experience of the industry, and helping businesses connect with individuals who are keen to learn, develop and build a career.

“With employers facing a shortage of new, skilled people and young people themselves finding it more difficult than ever to secure viable and sustainable careers, it is vital that we make those connections and show that there are high-quality, long-term career opportunities available right here in our region.”

Speakers at the festival launch also included Elisa Henderson, early careers co-ordinator at engineering firm RSE, which has two manufacturing facilities in Leeds and a combined intake of graduates and apprentices per year.

She was joined by Hannah Wilson, principal of specialist engineering college UTC Leeds, who spoke about the importance of working with employers to shape the curriculum and the impact that the college has had since it was set up by employers ten years ago.

They were followed by an industry panel featuring Kshamya Mittal, a degree apprentice in IT data analysis at Schneider Electric’s Leeds; Leeds Beckett University graduate Matthew Kay, now head of design and marketing at packaging firm Greyhound Box; and Matthew Sadler, a T level student at UTC Leeds, who completed an industry placement with ACS Stainless and has since been offered an apprenticeship with the Leeds firm.

They described what attracted them into careers in manufacturing, the need to change perceptions of the opportunities on offer and what employers can do to bring more young people into the sector.

Highlights of this year’s festival include careers showcases that will enable students to meet employers, as well as company visits for FE teaching staff. A two-day STEM Fest, supported by the festival this summer, will see 2,000 students from schools across Leeds attend and the ever-popular Leeds Manufacturing Festival Awards take place in June, celebrating some of the outstanding younger people working in the industry.