In 2011, wages rose faster

The annual growth of workers’ average pay in major industries picked up in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 4.7 percent year on year as total compensation grew faster, while gross revenues and employment eased.

The National Statistical Coordination Board said in a report that the October-December increase in the average pay was stronger than the 2.6 percent growth observed in the same period of 2010.

Also, fourth-quarter growth in per capita compensation was faster than the 3.5 percent recorded the previous quarter.

Based on the NSCB’s latest Quarterly Economic Indices report, the real estate sector registered the highest growth in terms of average compensation at 10.1 percent year-on-year.

Other top performers were private services, where average pay grew by 6.2 percent, and trade with 5.7 percent.

The NSCB’s QEI are used as bases for deciding on how much wages should be, as well as for economic forecasting and growth projections.

The QEI also covers the sectors of mining and quarrying, manufacturing, electricity and water, trade, transportation and communication and finance.

The NSCB said that the total compensation employee index had improved even as the total gross revenue index eased by 9.1 percent in the fourth quarter from 12.7 percent in the same quarter of 2010.

It was the fourth consecutive period when revenue growth had decreased, the agency noted.

The real estate sector showed faster revenue growth at 25.2 percent. This was the sector’s eighth consecutive period of double-digit growth.

Private services also showed improved revenue growth at 8.9 percent while the rest of the other sectors showed slower growth.

Further, growth of the total employment index likewise slowed, settling at 0.9 percent from 2.3 percent in the year-ago quarter. Real estate continued to record the highest growth in job generation albeit slower at 4.3 percent.