According to the Bank of PNG's (BPNG) jobs index, structured private sector employment fell by 5.5 per cent in the September quarter of 2020, relative to a 1.3 per cent growth in the June quarter of 2020.
This was recently illustrated in BPNG's quarterly economic bulletin for the September quarter.
BPNG Governor Loi Bakani said that jobs dropped by 1.4 per cent except for the mineral industry.
“By sector, the level of employment dropped in all the sectors except the financial/business and other services, and the wholesale sectors,” he said. “By region, the level of employment fell in the Highlands, Mamose (excluding Morobe) and Southern, excluding National Capital District, while it increased in Morobe. The level of employment remained unchanged in the New Guinea Islands. Over the year to September 2020, the total level of employment fell by 7.0 per cent, compared to an increase of 2.1 per cent in the corresponding period of 2019. Excluding the mineral sector, the level of employment fell by 2.7 per cent over the year to September 2020, compared to a decline of 0.4 per cent in the corresponding period of 2019.”
Domestic economic activity contracted and stayed weak throughout the year to the last September quarter, according to economic measures available to BPNG, owing primarily to the negative effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
