The growth in revenues of industries in the country has been outpacing the rate of expansion of the whole economy, leaving a wider economic gap between the rural and the urban sectors.

Government data showed that while the gross domestic product (GDP) grew by only 4.5 percent in the third quarter of 2005, the gross revenues of industries climbed by 13.4 percent during the same period.

In its latest Quarterly Economic Indices (QEI) report, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said companies in the finance sector recorded the highest revenue growth of 22.7 percent during the quarter.

Former Economic Planning secretary Cielito Habito said such trend explains the so-called “jobless” growth, a situation where the sector with the least employed people was experiencing the fastest growth.

Even the Asian Development Bank, which coined the term “jobless” growth, has been noticing that the growth in the economy over the past two years has not been accompanied with equivalent growth in employment.

As of 2003, the financial intermediation sector was employing only 230,503 workers, including 96,718 bank employees.

In comparison, the agriculture, fishery and forestry sector, which employs more than 10 million Filipinos, grew by just 1.8 percent in the third quarter of 2005.

The trade sector, on the other hand, recorded a 16.1 percent growth in revenues during the same quarter.

“Higher interest income and other income of banks contributed to the growth in the financial services while increased sales of pharmaceutical and petroleum products and supermarkets spurred the growth of the trade industry,” NSCB secretary general Romulo Virola said.

Despite the extraordinary growth in revenues, the number of workers in industries grew by just 0.5 percent in the third quarter, slower than 1.7 percent registered a year earlier.

Finance recorded a growth of 4.8 percent in employment as compared to last year’s 3.8 percent while real estate showed improvement from 8 percent to 9.1 percent.

The growth in employment in transportation and communication slightly decelerated from 3.8 percent to 3.5 percent.

However, employment in manufacturing, electricity and water as well as mining and quarrying fell by 0.2 percent, 1.9 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively.