Major PH industries’ revenues grew 5.9% in Q4

The gross revenues of major Philippine industries grew 5.9 percent during the fourth quarter of last year, faster than the expansion in the previous quarter but slower than a year ago.

In a report Thursday, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) attributed the growth in the total gross revenue index to the strong performance of the finance, real estate as well as transportation and communication sectors.

The fourth-quarter growth rate exceeded the 4.3 percent posted in the third quarter but fell below the 8 percent recorded during the last three months of 2014.

Real estate companies’ revenues jumped 12.7 percent during the October to December period, surpassing the 7.5 percent registered a year ago.

Revenues of transportation and communication firms, meanwhile, climbed 9.9 percent.

The finance, manufacturing, private services, and trade sectors all grew their revenues during the fourth quarter but at a slower pace than a year ago.

The growth in the total employment index also slowed to 3.4 percent from 4.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, as increases in the number of jobs in the manufacturing, private services and real estate industries were offset by contraction in the mining and quarrying as well as trade sectors.

The total compensation index’s growth likewise decelerated to 6.1 percent from 8 percent a year ago. Compensation in the real estate industry grew 16.7 percent, while salaries in the mining and quarrying sector dropped by 9.1 percent.

“With the slowdown of both employment and compensation, total compensation per employee index decelerated to 2.7 percent from 3.3 percent a year ago,” the PSA said.