Local businesses have been on a hiring phase during the third quarter of the year as a result of the positive employment outlook index, according to the business expectations survey (BES) conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP).

“The employment outlook index for the next quarter remained positive although lower (at 19.6 percent) compared to the last quarter’s survey (at 26 percent),” the BES said.

Despite a lower outlook index, the BSP said that this outturn suggests that more firms will continue to hire more employees.

Also, the Central bank explained that employment prospects were generally eyed to moderate across sectors with the exemption of wholesale and retail trade, both of which were higher.

The employment outlook index for the next quarter remained positive although lower (at 19.6 percent) compared to the last quarter’s survey (at 26 percent).

“Likewise, the percentage of businesses with expansion plans in the industry sector for the fourth quarter 2019 was lower at 30.4 percent (from 33.5 in the previous quarter),” the BSP said.

“(On the other hand,) weaker expansion plans were recorded across the industry sub-sectors,” it added.

To recall, business sentiment in the economy showed less optimism for the third quarter period as overall confidence index from such fell to just 37.3 percent from the recorded 40.5 percent quarter-ago.