Compensation per employee up in Q2 2011 as jobs decline

MANILA, Philippines — Compensation per employee increased across industries in the second quarter of 2011 even as the companies’ growth slowed and employment declined, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) official said.

However, this is not entirely good news since it may simply mean there were less employees sharing companies’ budgets for wages.

Raymundo J. Talento, director of the NSCB’s economic statistics office, said in a phone interview that the Total Compensation per Employee Index grew by 5.1 percent in the second quarter of 2011 from 6.6 percent last year. However, he said this was mainly because the number of employees decreased.

“There could be many possible reasons, or a combination of them. The number of jobs decreased, as shown in the Employment Index, although compensation still grew even if at a slower pace than the second quarter of last year. It also happens that when companies retrench, employees get separation pay so their compensation increases temporarily, or that the remaining employees enjoy better pay,” Talento said.

According to NSCB data, all sectors posted positive growths in Total Compensation per Employee with Real Estate recording the highest growth at 25.5 percent, followed by Mining and Quarrying at 20.9 percent, and Private Services at 6.6 percent.

The growth of the total gross revenue index of industries slowed to 6.7 percent in the second quarter of 2011, from a 14 percent growth in the previous year. Real Estate slowed down but still posted the highest growth at 16.8 percent from 33 percent in 2010, the NSCB said.

The growth can be attributed to the steady revenues from real estate projects, renting and leasing operations. This was followed by finance, which grew by 10.9 percent, and transportation and communication, up by 9.2 percent.

Total Employment Index declined by 1.8 percent from a 2.8 percent growth a year ago.  Mining and quarrying posted the biggest decline with 18.7 percent followed by manufacturing, real estate and transportation and communication, which dropped by 3.1 percent, 0.7 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively. Finance recorded the highest growth with 2.2 percent.

Total Compensation Index slowed down to a growth of 3.2 percent from the 2010′ growth of 9.6 percent.  Real Estate again posted a double-digit growth of 24.6 percent followed by Private Services with 8.0 percent and Electricity and Water with 7.5 percent. All other sectors likewise registered positive growths except for Mining and Quarrying and Manufacturing, which declined by 1.6 percent and 0.7 percent respectively during the quarter.

The data are based on the Quarterly Economic Indices (QEI) of the Philippines for the second quarter of 2011. The QEI seeks to measures growth in the sales, employment, and compensation levels in various sectors of industry.