CLARK FREEPORT—The total number of workers inside this free port has reached 107,694, an increase of more than 14,227 within an 11-month period, the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) said.
In a report submitted to CDC President and CEO Noel F. Manankil, the data on free-port workers were culled from 943 registered enterprises here, including some government agencies as of November 2017.
The report also showed that Clark had only 93,467 workers at the end of December 2016. The increase represented about 12 percent for a period of 11 months.
The number of workers inside the economic zone is the all-time high since the conversion of Clark Freeport from a military facility into a productive commercial complex that started in 1993.
During the time of American troops in Clark, there were only about 20,000 workers at its peak.
The increase in manpower in Clark is being attributed by the CDC to the sound investment climate and economic policies of the Duterte administration.
Among the biggest contributor of jobs here are the Japanese-owned Nanox Philippines with 7,926 workers; Sutherland Global Services Philippines Inc. with 6,071; iQor Philippines Inc. with 5,857; L&T International Group Philippines Inc. with 5,200; and Yokohama Tire Philippines Inc with 2,858.
The Japanese semiconductor firm Nanox attributed its increase in employment to the signed agreement with CDC and Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) for their P731-million expansion project here two years ago.
Industrial firms also employ the biggest number of workers with 49,055 or 46 percent of the total number of workers, while the ICT/business-process outsourcing firms are the second-largest employment contributor, with 22,883 or 21 percent.
The employment generation is also expected to increase significantly once the components of the New Clark City project of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) gets implemented in the coming years.
The New Clark City is the country’s newest development project that will feature mixed-use, real-estate developments for housing, a business continuity center that would also house national government agencies, an agro-industrial park that will provide a platform for research and development, and the Philippine Sports City inside 9,450-hectare at Clark Special Economic Zone. Under the “Build, Build, Build” program of President Duterte, the BCDA started the construction of a P9.3-billion passenger-terminal project at the Clark International Airport on December 20, 2017.
The project is being implemented in partnership with the departments of Transportation, Public Works and Highways, Finance and Budget and Management.