Jobs growth in large companies eases

The growth of the number of jobs at large enterprises in Metro Manila slowed down in the fourth quarter of 2014, amid large job cuts in the mining industry, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Results from the PSA’s latest labor turnover survey show that the slowdown was driven mainly by the loss of jobs in mining and quarrying as well as in the agriculture sector.

PSA data show that for the fourth quarter of last year, the labor turnover rate —the difference between jobs gained and jobs lost—settled at 1.02 percent.

“Employment growth continued to be positive, but this reflected a marked slowdown compared to the same quarter of 2013 at 3.22 percent,” the agency said.

The latest figure was also slower than the 2.35 percent recorded in the third quarter of 2014.

For every 1,000 enterprise workers in the National Capital Region (NCR), a net of 10 people were added during the three months to December last year.

For every thousand, 93 new hires joined but 83 quit or were fired. The hiring rate was recorded at 9.31 percent while the separation rate was 8.29 percent.

Overall, employment in the agriculture sector shrank by 2.65 percent, and industry sector by 0.54 percent. On the other hand, jobs in the services sector improved by 1.39 percent.

Among 18 industries covered, the labor turnover rate in the fourth quarter was worst in mining and quarrying (-21.2); human health and social services (3.02); and transportation and storage (2.89).