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Employment record high at Clark Freeport

CLARK FREEPORT, Philippines – An even better employment this year is expected despite worldwide economic woes, following an all-time high of 5,000 new jobs created in 2008 by the Clark Development Corp., which runs this freeport.

“Over 5,000 new jobs were created at Clark in 2008 to boost employment to an all time high of 57,118 jobs since the CDC was created in 1993,” the CDC’s public relations department said.

The employment figure is expected to go higher as it was based on reports of only 347 out of 640 registered investors at this freeport, the CDC said.

“The employment increase is also expected this year amid the expected soft opening of US-based semi-conductor firm Texas instrument and the expansion programs of the five Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms operating inside the zone,” the CDC said.

CDC’s marketing department also reported to CDC president and chief executive officer Benigno Ricafort that 55 investment projects were signed last year, bringing to 781 the total number of investments this freeport.

Cyber City Teleservices Senior Executive Vice President George Sorio said that the effects of the global effect of financial crisis will not be “drastic in the Philippines.”

“Actually, there is still a scarcity of manpower in the BPO industry here in the Philippines which is why call center agents whose companies might close shop would only be absorbed by other BPOs,” Sorio said during the Regional Cluster Intrapreneurship Congress held here recently.

He added that “what the call center industry in the country needs right now is manpower.”

The CDC public relations department said the number of workers in Clark today is now more than three times the employment provided to Filipinos by Americans when this freeport was still a US air force base. On the average, the US base maintained a Filipino workforce of only 21,000.

The CDC noted that the biggest employers here are the investors in industrial electronics, garments, crafts, furniture and other manufacturing sectors with 28,452 workers or 51.50 percent of total Clark employment.

They are followed by information technology and telecommunications investors with 8,759 workers comprising 15.47 percent, and tourism and tourism-related firms with 6,835 workers comprising 12 percent.

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