(Photo from Philippine News Agency https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1129244)
QUEZON CITY (PIA) — The country has marked a seven-year high local employment figure in October 2024, S&P Global said on Monday, Nov. 4, citing its Philippines Manufacturing PMI (Purchasing Managers’ Index) data compiled from manufacturers.
The financial information and analytics firm primarily attributed this employment uptick to the sustained expansion of the manufacturing sector.
It said manufacturing has been showing sustained improvement, highlighting the strong increase in the volume of new orders for products.
S&P Global noted, “Improved demand trends allowed firms to expand their workforce numbers strongly. Filipino goods producers ramped up hiring, with the recent wave of job creation marking the most significant increase since mid-2017.”
It pointed out, “Additionally, growth in employment allowed firms to work through the slight build-up of backlogs seen in the previous month and also keep up with current production requirements…”
Maryam Baluch, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, emphasized, “Employment became the real stand-out this month [October], with the rate of job creation the strongest in over seven years.”
The latest S&P Global Philippines Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which measures factory output, experienced a slight declined from September’s two-year high of 53.7 to 52.9. As cited by S&P Global, rising raw material prices often discouraged firms from buying inputs.
However, S&P Global said October’s index reached the second-highest level since January last year, which also marked the fourteenth consecutive month it has stayed above the 50-point threshold, indicating ongoing growth.
Baluch noted that the Philippine manufacturing sector showed a stable growth, with strong new orders enabling producers to increase output.
“The expansion in new orders was again robust, allowing goods producers to raise their output again,” Baluch said.
“Firms remain optimistic with more than half of respondents anticipating expansion in the year ahead,” Baluch said.#
