Philippine industries shed jobs on falling earnings

EMPLOYMENT in Philippine industries has been declining since the second half of last year as earnings continued to fall, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said.

The agency said total employment registered its seventh quarterly drop at 7.2 percent in the January to March period, from the 2.1-percent contraction in the same period last year.

The NSCB blamed the weak employment during the period on the 12-percent decline in manufacturing and 1.3- percent fall in the mining and quarrying sectors.

Real estate, trade, electricity and water, transportation and communication, private services and finance, on the other hand, posted minimal positive employment growth. The NSCB, however, said, “These were not enough to offset the double-digit decline in manufacturing . . . as well as the decline in mining and quarrying.”

Total compensation managed to inch up 0.2 percent in the first quarter from last year’s 7.2-percent growth.

The highest growth was recorded in mining and quarrying at 9.5 percent, followed by real estate at 9.4 percent.

Except for manufacturing and finance, wherein compensation declined by 11.3 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively, all other sectors posted positive growth.

With the decline in employment and the increase in compensation, the NSCB said the total compensation per employee rose by 8 percent.

Mining and quarrying posted the highest growth at 11 percent, followed by real estate at 5.8 percent, private services, 5.1 percent; transportation and communication, 4.7 percent; electricity and water, 4.2 percent, trade, 1.7 percent; and manufacturing, 0.8 percent.

Only finance posted a decline of 2.8 percent, the NSCB said.

Total gross revenue slowed sharply to 4.1 percent in the first quarter from 10.1 percent in the same period last year.

Trade posted the fastest and the only double-digit growth at 10 percent, followed by real estate at 6.7 percent.

Manufacturing, however, contracted 9.8 percent, its only decline in a decade of expansion.– Darwin G. Amojelar, Manila Times