LOWER gross sales in the manufacturing and real-estate sectors caused the total Gross Revenue Index (GRI) to slow to a growth of only 5.7 percent in the second quarter of 2015.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the total gross revenue index decreased from a growth of 10.8 percent in the same period in 2014.
The PSA said the manufacturing sector posted a growth of only 1 percent in the second quarter of 2015, from a growth of 13.8 percent in the same period last year.
Further, the real-estate sector posted a growth of only 5.3 percent in April to June this year, from 15.8 percent in the second quarter of 2014.
The GRI was boosted by the transportation and communication sector that posted the biggest increase at 9.3 percent. However, it was still slower than last year’s 21.1-percent growth.
With the growth of the gross revenue index slowing in the second quarter, the total employment index and the compensation index both slowed to increases of only 2.8 percent and 5.9 percent, respectively.
The Total Employment Index slowed from the 4.7-percent growth of the same quarter in 2014, while the Total Compensation Index slowed from the 6.3-percent growth in the same period in 2014.
The total employment index in transportation and communications contracted to 1.5 percent from a 5.9-percent growth, and trade declined to –2 percent from a 0.1-percent growth.
The total compensation index of transportation and communication, on the other hand, caused the total compensation index to slow. Data showed that transportation and communication slowed to a growth of only 0.9 percent in 2015, from 7.3 percent in 2014.
With the total compensation index growing faster than employment, Total Compensation per Employee Index increased by 3 percent, from 1.5 percent last year.
The growth was due to the growth in Private Services at 3.9 percent in 2015, from a growth of 2.8 percent in 2014; Real Estate 3.3 percent, from 3.2 percent; and Trade 3.1 percent, from 1.8 percent.
“Only Mining and Quarrying suffered a setback to -8 percent from an already declining rate of 5.4 percent last year,” the PSA said.
The total GRI was obtained from the October 2015 issue of the Quarterly Economic Indices (QEI) of the Philippines.
The QEI intends to provide measures of growth in production, gross revenue, employment and compensation in the various sectors of the economy.