Industries still show weak demand for workers

JOB MARKET growth for large enterprises in Metro Manila went even slower, dipping below one percent in the first quarter of 2015, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

The PSA said the labor turnover rate, or the difference between jobs gained and jobs lost, crept down to 0.53 percent in the first quarter of 2015.

“The slowdown reflects the past pattern of weak demand for labor in the first quarter of the year,” the agency said.

For every 1,000 enterprise workers in the National Capital Region, 107 new hires joined but 102 quit or were fired. The hiring rate was recorded at 10.7 percent while the separation rate was 10.2 percent.

Simply put, only five people were added for every 1,000 enterprise workers during the first quarter of 2015.

First-quarter employment was much slower than the 1.02 percent registered in the October to December period last year. It was also almost unchanged from the 0.59 percent growth recorded for the same period of 2014.

PSA said 12 out of 18 industries showed weak demand for workers, even registering “negative turnover rates.”

“These declines, however, were matched by continuous employment expansion particularly in administrative and support service activities which include business process outsourcing; agriculture, forestry and fishing; and mining and quarrying.”

Employment in the industry sector went down by 1.1 percent. Agriculture was the best performer with a growth of 3.6 percent. Services, on the other hand, showed “minimal growth” at 0.92 percent.

Among 18 industries covered, the top performers were administrative and support service activities with 5.3 percent, agriculture, forestry and fishing with 3.6 percent, and mining and quarrying with 3.5 percent.

Employment was worst in “other services” (-4.4 percent); human health and social work activities (-2.4 percent); and manufacturing (-1.7 percent).

The PSA observed that large enterprises in the majority of the subsectors, or 15 out of 18, only took in new employees to replace those who were let go rather than due to business expansion.