More firms plan to expand workforce this year

Bangko Sentral employment index at all-time high

MANILA, Philippines—More jobs may be available for Filipinos in the fourth quarter as the employment index, a key indicator of the plans of companies to hire additional workers, has hit an all-time high.

This was according to a survey of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, which said there was a likelihood for the country’s jobless rate to decline in the last three months of the year given the intention of firms to expand their operations.

The Employment Outlook Index for the fourth quarter of this year reached +24 percent, the highest figure recorded since the BSP started conducting the quarterly survey in 2001.

The index is computed as the difference between the percentage of respondents who said their companies intend to employ more people in the succeeding quarter and those who said they did not have such a plan. A positive index, therefore, means the number of respondents who would hire additional workers outnumbered those who would not.

Citing results of the latest Business Expectation Survey (BES), the central bank said enterprises in most sectors covered by the survey reported plans to augment their workforce. These sectors included financial intermediation, hotels and restaurants, construction, and wholesale and retail trade.

“Consistent with the more positive outlook about their own operations, more firms indicated expansion plans for the next quarter,” the BSP said.

The Expansion Plans Index stood at +27 percent, the highest in two years.

Rosabel Guerrero, director of the BSP’s department of economic statistics, said the favorable results of the survey reflected the optimism of enterprises on the country’s business environment.

Firms cited the smooth transition of power from the Arroyo to the Aquino administration, the government’s promise to help accelerate economic growth, and a modestly improving global economy for their confidence in investing in more workers and expanding their operations.

BSP Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said results of the survey injected hope that more jobs will be created in the coming quarter and help reduce the country’s jobless rate.

According to the latest survey by the National Statistics Office, the country’s unemployment rate rose to 8 percent in April this year from 7.5 percent in the same period last year.

The latest jobless rate meant that there were 3.1 million Filipinos who had no jobs.

Promising to address joblessness and poverty, which is estimated at about a third of the estimated 94 million population, the Aquino administration said it would spend more on infrastructure and improve the business climate to entice more businesses, including foreigners, to operate in the country. –Michelle Remo, Philippine Daily Inquirer