THE decline in manufacturing is hitting all parts of the country, "devastating" communities and widening North-South divide, according to a new report out today.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is calling on Chancellor Gordon Brown to unveil a package of measures in his pre-Budget report later this month to help hard-hit regions, such as the North-East.

General secretary John Monks said manufacturing was in trouble up and down the country.

"There can be no doubt that manufacturing decline in the North of England, Wales and Scotland produces wide economic problems."

The TUC will today launch a series of regional conferences on manufacturing ahead of the pre-Budget report on November 27 and the manufacturing summit called by the Government on December 5.

"We would like assistance directed at sustaining companies that have good long-term prospects but which are at risk of going under during the current downturn," said Mr Monks.

Recent figures showed that the number of jobs in manufacturing has fallen to about 3.8m, the lowest since records began in the mid-1980s.

Employment Relations Minister Alan Johnson will tell the first TUC conference in London today that each region of the country faced different challenges.

Meanwhile, in the wider economy there are signs that, despite continuing improvements in productivity, the region's firms are struggling to keep back from the brink.

New figures also out today show that while profitability growth rates make the North-East the UK's most profitable region, that rate of growth slowed in the first quarter of this year, long before the knock-on effect caused by the events of September 11.

But the Experian corporate health check found that profitability among 2,000 leading UK firms had actually fallen for the eighth quarter in a row.

The figures, which cover company results issued during the 12 months to the end of March, found the average return on capital fell across 19 of the 24 manufacturing and services sectors included in the study.

Experian spokesman Peter Brooker said: "Unlike most of the UK, corporate profitability in the North-East is still growing and the region is still the UK's most profitable.

"Although this contradicts the traditional view of the North-East, it is clear that while many companies in the North-East are highly profitable, there aren't enough of them to sustain the local economy.