Major industries’ revenues up in Q4 2018

Gross revenues of major industries climbed 9.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year as all sectors sustained growth.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the gross revenue index expansion during the October to December 2018 period was faster than the 8.9 percent posted during the fourth quarter of the previous year.

Revenues of private services jumped by a tenth; manufacturing, 9.9 percent; trade, 9.6 percent; finance, 9.1 percent; real estate, 8.6 percent; and transportation and communication, 5.9 percent.

Despite the faster revenue increases across major sectors, the total employment index growth slightly slowed to 1.5 percent during the fourth quarter of 2018 from 1.6 percent a year ago.

Jobs inched up 3.3 percent in the trade sector, 3.2 percent in transportation and communication, 2.6 percent in private services, 1.5 percent in finance, 1.2 percent in electricity and water, and 0.7 in manufacturing.

“The rest of industries also recorded growth in compensation index: real estate with 6.9 percent, transportation and communication with 6.6 percent, mining and quarrying with 3.9 percent, trade with 2.8 percent, electricity and water with 2.5 percent, finance with 1.4 percent and manufacturing with 1.3 percent,” the PSA said.