The expansion of the Philippines’ manufacturing sector has driven the strongest increase in employment in more than seven years, according to a report released by S&P Global yesterday.
The headline S&P Global Philippines manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI), a single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance, showed an improvement in the sector’s health for the 14th straight month in October.
While the headline index slightly eased from September’s 27-month high of 53.7 to 52.9, it was the second-highest reading since January 2023.
The report said the upturn was supported by another strong uptick in new orders, which allowed manufacturers to raise their output.
The further improvement in demand allowed firms to expand their workforce numbers strongly.
Filipino goods producers ramped up hiring, with the recent wave of job creation marking the most significant increase since mid-2017.
“October PMI data indicated a slight easing in — but still solid — growth across the Filipino manufacturing sector. The expansion in new orders was again robust, allowing goods producers to raise their output again,” Maryam Baluch, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said.
“More encouragingly, employment became the real stand-out this month, with the rate of job creation the strongest in over seven years,” Baluch added.
Baluch however said firms revealed supply-side challenges, with material shortages resulting in longer delivery times and cooling buying activity.
“It was also one of the key factors for rising input prices, which was further exacerbated by the depreciation of the peso against the dollar,” Baluch said.
Nonetheless, the economist said firms remain optimistic with more than half of respondents anticipating expansion in the year ahead.
