Employment in Metro Manila business enterprises dropped slightly by 2.05 percent in second quarter this year due to the considerable slowdown in the economy during the period, the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) said Saturday.
In its latest Labor Turnover Survey (LTS), the BLES said the 2.05 percent decline was a reversal from 2.86 percent expansion registered in 2010.
“This occurred as the domestic economy – measured in terms of gross domestic product or GDP – slowed down considerably to 3.4 percent in the second quarter from the robust 8.9 percent growth in 2010,” the BLES said.
“Measured in terms of labor turnover rate, employment growth declined as hiring or accession rate [8.60 percent] fell behind separation rate [10.65 percent] by 2.05 percentage points,” it said.
“This suggests a reduction of 21 workers per 1,000 employed persons: 86 workers per 1,000 employed were added to the enterprise workforce due to expansion or replacement while 107 workers per 1,000 employed were terminated or quit their jobs,” the bureau added.
The LTS aims to capture “job creations” and “job displacements” in large business enterprises based in Metro Manila by collecting quarterly data on accessions and separations of workers.
The number of respondents was composed of more than 700 large enterprises in Metro Manila and were drawn from the 2010 Edition of the Philippines Top 25,000 Corporations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
According to LTS, employment grew in 10 sub-sectors while losses were registered in four other sub-sectors.
“The fastest [growth was] in mining and quarrying [5.92 percent] followed by hotels and restaurants [4.50 percent]. Modest growth rates occurred in manufacturing [2.59 percent], financial intermediation [2.56 percent], and wholesale and retail trade [2.08 percent],” the report said.
“The biggest [loss was] in real estate, renting and business activities [-6.40 percent]. The rest were in private education [-2.10 percent]; fishing [-1.79 percent]; and other community, social and personal service activities [-1.00 percent],” it added.
The report said “employee-initiated” separations [6.67 percent] exceeded employer-initiated separations [3.98 percent] with the top three sub-sectors registering the highest quits being real estate, renting and business activities [9.43 percent]; manufacturing [6.04 percent]; and hotels and restaurants [6.02 percent].