Employment in tourism up 6.4%
Manila Standard
EMPLOYMENT in tourism rose 6.44 percent in the year to April 2008, easing the drop in work opportunities in the other industries, the government said yesterday.
Employment in real estate also went up, and by 5.1 percent, in the same period, the National Statistics Office said.
The National Economic and Development Authority said the expansion in these two sectors and in business process outsourcing, mining and construction would result in more jobs this year, and they needed support to create more employment.
“More aggressive employment programs and timely implementation of programmed infrastructure projects for 2008 are crucial to generate jobs,” Neda deputy director general Margarito Songco said in a report to President Arroyo.
Employment losses must be minimized through employment protection programs, she said.
Earlier, the statistics office said the employment rate went down slightly in April, to 92.0 percent from 92.6 percent in the same month a year ago.
Most of the sectors that suffered employment losses registered a slowdown in output in the first quarter this year, Songco said.
Rising inflation and the global economic slowdown resulted in a 4.6-percent drop in employment in the industry sector, she said.
Employment in the mining and quarrying, utilities and construction sub-sectors fell by 15.8 percent, 8.2 percent and by 1.2 percent, respectively.
Manufacturing, which employed the most number of people in the industry sector, nevertheless recorded a fall in employment of about 183,000 workers, or a contraction of 6.0 percent.
Employment in agriculture expanded by 0.4 percent, but that was a sharp drop from 5.1 percent in the same period last year.
Employment in the services sector inched up by 0.2 percent despite the fall in the wholesale and retail trade and the repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods.
Unemployment rose to 8.0 percent from 7.4 percent a year ago as the number of jobless people increased to 2,914,000 from 2,692,000.
The underemployment rate, or the proportion of those working but wanted more work, increased to 19.8 percent from 18.9 percent. Roderick T. dela Cruz
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