labels not rendered when <apex:pageBlockSection> removed

Question

To save some real estate i just removed pageBlockSection and instead of it i used plain table tag. But the issue is the label defined in the apex:outputText tag has not rendered but the value is.

For example, in the below line of code, label "Number of Sales Orders" did not render but i got the "noof" value displayed on the page. I searched View Page source but did not find the label. What could be the issue?

<td><apex:outputText label="Number of Sales Orders" value="{!SONumOf}" id="noof"/></td>

Issue Code Snippet:

 <apex:pageBlock title="Open Sales Orders" rendered="{!displayOpenSalesOrders}">
            <table>
                <tr>
                    <td><apex:outputText label="Number of Sales Orders" value="{!SONumOf}" id="noof"/></td>     

                    <td><apex:commandButton action="{!GenerateCSV}" id="btnOpenSalesCSV" value="Download" image="{!URLFOR($Resource.UtilityImages, 'Images/Download28x28px.png')}" /> </td>   
                    <td><apex:outputText label="Total Amount" id="totalamount" value="{0,number,0.00}">
                            <apex:param value="{!SOTotalAmount}" />
                        </apex:outputText>
                    </td>
                </tr>
            </table>
            <apex:pageBlockTable value="{!OpenSalesOrders}" var="so"  styleClass="dataTable">
                <apex:column headerValue="Order #" value="{!so.OrderNo}"/>
                <apex:column headerValue="Document Date">
                    <apex:outputText value="{0,date,MM/dd/yyyy}">
                        <apex:param value="{!so.DocumentDate}" />
                    </apex:outputText>
                </apex:column>

                <apex:column headerValue="Purchase Order #" style="width:10%;" value="{!so.PurchaseOrderNo}"/>
                <apex:column headerValue="Sales Org" style="width:10%;" value="{!so.SalesOrg}"/>
                <apex:column headerValue="Amount" style="text-align:right;width:10%;" value="{!so.Amount}"/>
                <apex:column headerValue="Currency" style="text-align:center;" value="{!so.Curren}"/>
                <apex:column headerValue="Products" style="width:30%;" value="{!so.Product}"/>
            </apex:pageBlockTable>

Previous code that worked fine: (this includes pageBlockSection)

 <apex:pageBlock title="Open Sales Orders" rendered="{!displayOpenSalesOrders}">
        <apex:pageBlockSection >
            <apex:outputText label="Number of Sales Orders" value="{!SONumOf}" id="noof"/>     
            <apex:commandButton action="{!GenerateCSV}" id="btnOpenSalesCSV" value="Download" image="{!URLFOR($Resource.UtilityImages, 'Images/Download28x28px.png')}" />       
            <apex:outputText label="Total Amount" id="totalamount" value="{0,number,0.00}">
                <apex:param value="{!SOTotalAmount}" />
            </apex:outputText>

        </apex:pageBlockSection>
        <apex:pageBlockTable value="{!OpenSalesOrders}" var="so"  styleClass="dataTable">
            <apex:column headerValue="Order #" value="{!so.OrderNo}"/>
            <apex:column headerValue="Document Date">
                <apex:outputText value="{0,date,MM/dd/yyyy}">
                    <apex:param value="{!so.DocumentDate}" />
                </apex:outputText>
            </apex:column>

            <apex:column headerValue="Purchase Order #" style="width:10%;" value="{!so.PurchaseOrderNo}"/>
            <apex:column headerValue="Sales Org" style="width:10%;" value="{!so.SalesOrg}"/>
            <apex:column headerValue="Amount" style="text-align:right;width:10%;" value="{!so.Amount}"/>
            <apex:column headerValue="Currency" style="text-align:center;" value="{!so.Curren}"/>
            <apex:column headerValue="Products" style="width:30%;" value="{!so.Product}"/>
        </apex:pageBlockTable>

Answer 1

Why not use the apex:outputLabel? It should work.

<td><apex:outputText label="Number of Sales Orders" value="{!SONumOf}" id="noof"/></td>

to

<td><apex:outputLabel for="noof" value="Number of Sales Orders" /><apex:outputText value="{!SONumOf}" id="noof"/></td>