Companies in the Philippines are expected to keep hiring new employees in the first quarter next year, but the number will be lower compared with the fourth quarter of 2016 because of the usual slowdown in consumer demand after the holiday season, results of a survey conducted by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show.
The employment outlook index for the next quarter (first quarter of 2017) remained positive at 19 percent, but lower compared to 3.6 percent registered in the last quarter’s survey.
“This suggests that more firms will continue to hire new employees than those that indicated otherwise, although the number of new hires could decrease compared to the previous quarter’s survey,” the regulator said.
Respondents mainly cited the usual slowdown in consumer demand after the holiday season. Other reasons were the direction of the government’s foreign policies and economic reforms in the country, tighter competition with the entry of new players in the market and the wait-and-see attitude of investors in the wake of the US national elections which could impact the interest rate environment.