Employment growth in top corporations in Metro Manila began to show signs of recovery in the second quarter after posting a near zero growth rate (0.2%) in the first three months of the year, the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES) said Monday.

In its latest Labor Turnover Survey (LTS), the BLES said the region’s accession rate or additions to employment hit 9.74 percent in the second quarter of 2009, while the separation rate or termination of employment was only 7.5 percent for a net gain of 2.21 percent.

“This indicates signs of recovery from the global recession as the demand for labor among large Metrobased enterprises started picking up again,’’ the BLES said.

“The 2.21 percent growth means that employment of these enterprises increased by about 22 workers per 1,000 employed, as 97 workers per 1,000 employed were hired while 75 workers per 1,000 employed were terminated or quit their jobs,’’ it added.

The LTS, a quarterly sample survey conducted by the BLES, covered 682 large enterprises in the metropolis. The enterprises were drawn from the 2007 list of the Philippines’ top 8,000 corporations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The survey also indicated gains in all but three (3) sub-sectors during the period, with construction posting the highest increase at 8.33 percent. Following closely were other community, social and personal service activities at 8.28 percent and mining and quarrying at 7.08% percent.

Considerable growth rates were also observed in private education services (4.42 percent); real estate, renting and business activities (2.84 percent); and manufacturing (2.24 percent).

The survey showed that employment was almost unchanged in financial intermediation (0.78 percent); wholesale and retail trade and related services (0.61 percent); and transport, storage and communications (0.21 percent).

Meanwhile, losses occurred in three sub-sectors, namely: fishing (-2.07 percent); health and social work (-0.72 percent); and agriculture, hunting and forestry (-0.37 percent).

The LTS showed that construction and mining and quarrying also recorded the highest separation rates at 13.55 percent and 12.23 percent, respectively. Manufacturing followed at 10.49 percent.

The lowest separation rates were in electricity, gas and water (2.05 percent); financial intermediation (2.85 percent); and agriculture, hunting and forestry (3.13 percent), according to the survey.

BLES clarified that the data in the second quarter are not comparable with the previous data series since survey data from 2008 onwards are no longer sample rates but are weighted to come up with population estimates.