The employment rate in Metro Manila has posted a 2.38 percent growth in the third quarter of last year compared to 2.35 percent in the same period in 2012, according to the labor turnover survey by the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES).
Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said employment in large enterprises in Metro Manila continued its growth in the third quarter of 2013 driven by the robust growth in the domestic economy.
The BLES survey has 763 large enterprises as respondents and a retrieval rate of 99.1 percent.
The overall accession rate in Metro Manila was 8.7 percent, higher than the 5.99 percent separation rate registered during the reference period.
The survey showed that 84 workers per 1,000 got employed due to expansion or replacement of workforce, while only 60 workers per 1,000 were either laid off or quit their jobs, during the same period.
Growth was particularly strong in the industry and services sector which recorded 3.07 percent, with large expansion in manufacturing at 4.7 percent making up for the slack in mining and quarrying (-3.7 percent).
Construction grew by a modest 1.9 percent. So did agriculture, fishery, and forestry, which slightly inched up by 1.16 percent.
Employment in services was up by 2.25 percent, but growth was mixed across sub-sectors. The biggest gainers were education at 4.95 percent; transportation and storage at 3.79 percent; and administrative and support service activities at 3.65 percent.
Accession was due to replacement of workers which at 5.1 percent is higher that accession due to expansion of businesses, recorded at 3.27 percent. It is due to expansion which registered high in construction, 8.02 percent; mining and quarrying, 7.35 percent; transportation and storage, 4.87 percent; and manufacturing, 4.76 percent; and professional, scientific, and technical activities, 2.53 percent.
The BLES also noted that employer-initiated separations or lay-offs were higher at 3.26 percent compared to employee-initiated separations or resignation at 2.73 percent.

Source: Manila Bulletin - January 21, 2014