Employment in establishments in NCR fluctuated during the second half of 2020

During this time of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, significant drops in establishments’ employment in the 1st half of 2020 were observed in NCR at -1.4 percent and -7.6 percent in the 1st and 2nd quarter, respectively. An increase in labor turnover of 0.1 percent was recorded during the 3rd quarter. This labor turnover rate implies that for every 1,000 employed persons, 1 worker was added to the total workforce during the period. However, for the last quarter of the reference year, labor turnover went down by -0.3 percent which indicates a reduction of three workers for every 1,000 persons employed in the total workforce.

Accession rate for the 3rd quarter of 2020 was registered at 8.0 percent while it was at 4.8 percent in the 4th quarter of 2020. This signifies that for every 1,000 employed, 80 workers in the 3rd quarter, and 48 workers in the 4th quarter were hired due to either expansion of business or replacement of separated workers. On the other hand, separation rates of 7.9 percent for the 3rd quarter and 5.2 percent for the 4th quarter indicate that for every 1,000 employed persons, 79 workers and 52 workers were either laid off by their employers or voluntarily quit their jobs, respectively. (Table 1)

Only the services sector posted a positive labor turnover rate during the second half of 2020

Among the three economic sectors, only services recorded an employment gain at 1.9 percent during the 3rd quarter of 2020. The main contributors for the said gain were human health and social work activities (10.3%), information and communication (7.7%), administrative and support services activities (5.2%), and transportation and storage (1.3%) industries. Meanwhile, a decline was also recorded on the said sector during the 4th quarter at -0.2 percent, of which arts, entertainment and recreation industry was greatly affected with an employment loss of -5.9 percent.

During the 3rd quarter of 2020, agriculture, forestry, and fishing recorded neither gain nor loss as accession equaled separation rates. It, however, dropped by -8.3 percent employment reduction in the last quarter of the reference year.

On the other hand, the industry sector posted declines in the second half of 2020 at -6.1 percent (3rd quarter) and -0.7 percent (4th quarter). Specifically, for both quarters, construction posted employment losses of -15.5 percent and -2.1 percent, respectively. (Tables 1A and 2A, and Figure 1)

DENNIS S. MAPA, Ph.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General