MANILA, Philippines - Business activities in the country slowed down in the fourth quarter of last year, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) reported.
Total gross revenue index of industries grew by 9.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 from a 12.7 percent growth in the previous year, marking the fourth consecutive decelerated growth.
Except for the real estate and private services sectors which posted growths of 25.2 percent and 8.9 percent, respectively, all other sectors such as finance, trade, manufacturing, and transportation and communication slowed down.
Activities in the finance sector slowed down to 11.1 percent from 12.7 percent last year, While the trade sector also slowed down to 10.5 percent in the fourth quarter from last year’s 13.9 percent.
Similarly, the manufacturing industry’s growth slowed to 6.2 percent in the fourth quarter of the year from 11.0 percent a year ago while activities in the transportation and communication sector slowed down to 4.9 percent from 10.5 percent.
The Total Employment Index also reflected a deceleration to 0.9 percent from 2.3 percent in 2010.
The Employment Index Real Estate sector, while recording the highest growth in total employment index, slowed down to 4.3 percent from its 5.3 percent growth last year, data from the NSCB also showed.
In the manufacturing sector, the employment index also showed a decelerated growth of 1.4 percent from 3.8 percent last year.
Even the much-touted Mining and Quarrying and Transportation and Communication sector continued to decline in total employment index in the fourth quarter of 2011, NSCB data also showed.
In contrast, the employment index in the personal services sector grew by 1.3 percent from a decline of 1.2 percent.
Total Compensation Index, meanwhile, grew at an improved rate of 5.7 percent from last year’s growth of five percent.
Among the different sectors, the real estate sector recorded the highest growth in the compensation index with 14.8 percent followed by private services with 7.5 percent and Manufacturing with 6.2 percent.
With the increase in total compensation and growth employment, the Compensation per Employee Index grew by 4.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011 from 2.6 percent last year. Real estate posted the highest growth with 10.1 percent, NSCB data showed.
This was followed by private services with 6.2 percent and Trade with 5.7 percent.
The rest of the sectors recorded positive growths except for Finance which declined by 18.7 percent.