PH industries post 26.8% drop in Q2 revenue

At the height of the longest and most stringent COVID-19 lockdown in the region, the second-quarter revenues of major industries in the Philippines fell by 26.8 percent year-on-year, also slashing jobs and incomes as the economy contracted.

In a report on Thursday, the Philippine Statistics Authority said the biggest revenue drop during the second quarter was posted by the transportation, storage and communication sector, whose revenue slid by 44.7 percent.

Movement of people and nonessential goods had been restricted during the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) imposed in Luzon and other parts of the country with high COVID-19 cases from mid-March to May.

Revenues of other services dropped 40 percent year-on-year; real estate, down 35.8 percent; manufacturing, down 35.3 percent; mining and quarrying, down 29.1 percent; trade, down 20.9 percent, and electricity, gas and water supply, down 15.4 percent.

But the financial and insurance activities sector bucked the trend, posting a 10.1-percent year-on-year increase in revenue in the second quarter.

Gross domestic product shrank by a record 16.5 percent in the second quarter as the ECQ aimed at containing the coronavirus’ spread put a halt to 75 percent of the economy.

As a result, the total employment index declined by 15.1 percent year-on-year, with the largest declines in employment recorded in construction (down 29.6 percent), other services (down 18.8 percent), storage and communication (also down 18.8 percent), and manufacturing (down 15.2 percent).

The nationwide unemployment rate jumped to a record 17.7 percent in April, although the gradual easing of quarantine restrictions to open up the economy since June reduced the share of jobless Filipinos in the labor force to 10 percent by July.

For those still employed, the average compensation across industries was slashed by 14.4 percent year-on-year from April to June.

The deepest pay cuts were inflicted upon workers in the transportation, storage and communication sector (down 31.1 percent), construction (down 26.8 percent), manufacturing (down 20.5 percent), mining and quarrying (down 14.3 percent), as well as other services (also down 14.3 percent).