By Henry Empeño | Correspondent
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—Subic’s job-generation outlook continues to brighten in the second half of 2015, with the free port work force expected to breach the 100,000-mark by the end of the year.
Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman Roberto V. Garcia said on Thursday that as more investments pour into the tourism and manufacturing sectors here, the total number of employees hired by various companies here has reached 99,463 as of the first semester.
Korean shipbuilding giant Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction-Philippines alone has almost 30,000 workers, Garcia pointed out.
Garcia added that things are definitely looking up in the employment sector “with the current investment and employment generation outlook, as well as the need to allocate some area for the planned Philippine military bases inside Subic.”
“In fact, the SBMA is looking around for more suitable spaces for new investors since most of the available land in the free port has already been taken,” he said.
According to SBMA records, the service industry in the Subic Bay Freeport hires the most number of workers at a total of 45,661, or 45.91 percent of the total number of employees here.
The manufacturing industry comes in next at 14.79 percent. Most of the workers in this sector are employed by firms at the two industrial parks here—the Japanese-owned Subic Techno Park and the Taiwanese-controlled Subic Bay Gateway Park.
Garcia also said with new economic developments in the Asia-Pacific region, more Japanese companies are now looking into the possibility of investing in Subic Bay Freeport.
Meanwhile, the recent construction boom in the hotel and restaurant industry here has, likewise, swelled the number of workers, contributing 2.81 percent to the total work force.
Garcia said growth has been noted even in the category for domestic helpers and caretakers, as retirees, aside from tourists, move into the Subic Freeport for its tranquil atmosphere and access to health and wellness facilities.
The local employment scene is nowhere more vibrant than in Hanjin, now the single-biggest employer in Subic with workers making up 36 percent of the total work force. The company expects to breach the 30,000-employees mark this year, Garcia added.
According to Hanjin President Jeong Sup Shim, the company would require more skilled workers to complete new orders such as the three ultra-large container ships (ULCS) for the French shipping conglomerate CMA CGM.
Shim added that aside from CMA CGM, the company has bagged contracts for six 11,000-TEU vessels with leading shipping companies across Europe and Asia.
Shim also said that because of the growing business at Hanjin’s Subic shipyard, the Philippines is currently ranked by the authoritative and Europe-based Clarksons Research as the fourth-largest shipbuilding nation in the world in terms of order book by builder country.
He added that, at the same time, Clarksons has reported that Hanjin Subic shipyard is the 10th largest shipyard in the world in terms of order booked, and now contributes 1.7 million compensated gross tonnage (CGT), which is equivalent to 74 percent of the Philippines’s CGT for new vessels.