Local firms to hire more in Q4 – BSP survey

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine firms are expected to hire more in the fourth quarter amid expansion plans of local businesses, a Bangko Sentral ng PIlipinas survey showed.

 “The more upbeat outlook for the next quarter is reflected in the employment outlook index which increased to 27.4 percent from 25.4 percent last quarter, indicating expectations of an overall increase in the number of new employees to be hired in the last quarter of the year,” the central bank said.

The latest Business Expectations Survey showed that the employment outlook for those in the industry and wholesale and retail trade improved for the next quarter. The Industry sector includes the firms involved in agriculture; forestry and fishing; manufacturing; electricity, gas, and water; and mining and quarrying.

But the employment outlook for those in the services sector remained steady, while that for construction firms declined.

 “Another indicator providing support to expectations of sustained growth in the fourth quarter is the percentage of businesses with expansion plans in the industry sector which increased to 34.2 percent from 30 percent in the previous quarter,” the BSP said.

Those involved in the electricity, gas, and water activities had the “most robust” expansion plans, followed by firms from the agriculture, fishery and forestry and manufacturing sub-sectors, the central bank recounted.

Meanwhile, only a low percentage of mining and quarrying firms had expansion plans for the next quarter.

The BSP last week reported a slide in the business confidence index to 34.4 percent in the third quarter from 50.7 percent in the second quarter. This is the lowest level recorded following the 34.1 percent in the third quarter of 2011.

Local firms, however, had a more optimistic outlook for the fourth quarter as the index hit 52.9 percent.

The respondents cited the holiday season seen increasing consumer spending, and the recovery in global markets expected to raise exports of garments and metals and grow orders for manufacturing products.

The latest BES was conducted from July 1 to August 15 and covered 1,527 firms.