Metro Manila labor turnover stabilizes in Q3

LABOR TURNOVER in large Metro Manila enterprises declined to its slowest pace since early 2016, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

According to a PSA quarterly survey, labor turnover in the National Capital Region ( NCR) decelerated to 1.1% year on year in the third quarter of 2017, from 3.67% a year earlier and 2.1% in the second quarter of 2017.

The reading was the lowest since the 0.96% turnover rate in the first quarter of 2016.

Turnover rate is the difference between those hired (accession rate) and those who left or were terminated (separation rate). In the third quarter, the accession rate in large Metro Manila firms was 8.91%, down from 14.1% a year earlier, while the separation rate was 7.81%, down from 10.43% a year earlier.

For every 1,000 employed, a net 11 were added to Metro Manila’s work force with 89 new hires against 78 either laid off or resigned.

Ruben Carlo O. Asuncion, chief economist at the Union Bank of the Philippines, said the indicator is a “good sign.”

“It means that reduced departures in [the third quarter] of 2017. It could be a general sentiment of job satisfaction and a feeling of stability with one’s current employment. This is generally a positive picture of the labor force,” he said.

Security Bank Corp. economist Angelo B. Taningco attributed the slowdown in labor turnover to a sharp decline in the services sector “that was partly offset by an increase in the industrial sector.”

Industry contributed the most to job generation with a labor turnover rate of 1.38%, as the accession rate of 8.35% outstripped the 6.97% separation rate. Top performers in this sector were mining and quarrying (2.34%) and manufacturing (2.22%).