Joblessness in industry sector widens

EMPLOYMENT in Philippine industries in the fourth quarter of last year dropped at its fastest pace since the third quarter of 2007, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said Thursday.

 The agency said the total employment index continued to decline at 4 percent, its sixth consecutive decline since the index fell 2.5 percent in the third quarter of 2007.

 The NSCB said mining and quarrying posted the biggest drop in employment at 30.5 percent, followed by manufacturing and finance at 7 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.

“Electricity and water, trade; private services; transportation and communication and real-estate posted minimal positive growths,” the agency said.

Industries’ total compensation also slowed down to 2.2 percent from the previous year’s growth of 6.7 percent.

“The highest growth was recorded in real estate at 12.1 percent,” NSCB said.

All other sectors posted positive growths, except for manufacturing which declined by 6.4 percent.

The total compensation per worker dropped 6.4 percent from previous year’s growth of 9.5 percent.

The highest growth came from mining and quarrying at 49 percent, followed by real estate at 11.7 percent.

Meanwhile, all other sectors posted positive growths, except for electricity and water, which declined by 0.5 percent.

Earnings of industries grew 9.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, lower by 1.4 percent compared with the previous year.

Real estate posted the fastest growth for the fifth consecutive time, at 28.4 percent.

The second highest growth came from finance at 13.7 percent, decelerating from 14.9-percent in the previous year.

Trade and manufacturing also posted double-digit growths of 10.5 percent and 10.3 percent, respectively.  –Darwin G. Amojelar, Manila Times