[ Manila Bulletin Online ] November 21, 2008
By FRED M. ROXAS
CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga – Officials of the Clark Development Corporation here announced that workers in the freeport zone increased by more than 5,000 this year, improving the employment rate close to an all-time high of 57,000 since the state-owned firm’s inception in 1993.
The Customer Service Department told CDC President Benigno Ricafort that the number of workers in Clark in October 2007 was 5,095 and increased in the last 12 months based on the latest employment reports of 347 locators.
The previous all-time high was recorded on Feb. 29 this year with 54,748 employees from the same number of firms reporting to CDC. By the end of October this year, Clark has 56,974 workers.
CDC Public Relations Department Manager Angelo C. Loez, Jr. said the number of workers in Clark today is almost three times compared to when the United States military was running the former Clark Air Base. The US facility employed more than 21,000 at the height of its operations.
There are more than 640 registered locators in Clark, of which 347 have submitted their number of employees.
The CSD also told Ricafort that the sectors that generate most employment in Clark are industrial electronics, garments, crafts, furniture and other manufacturing firms with 28,452 workers or 51.50 percent of the total.
This is followed by the Information Technology and Telecommunications sector with 8,759 or 15.47 percent; and 6,835 from the tourism-related projects in Clark or 12 percent of total workers.
The steady increase in employment inside the economic zone could also be attributed to an increase in investments, with 87 signed new lease agreements with locators.
The biggest investment haul for the year came from tourism projects with P9.2 billion in committed investments in the next five years from ten new proponents that signed leases and sublease agreements here in the last 10 months.
The report also said there are more than P2.18 billion committed investments for the next five years coming from 33 IT-related projects that signed lease and sublease agreements.
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