The number of workers currently employed by various companies inside the Subic Bay Freeport has reached 145, 230 as of June this year owing to the recovery of the local economy amid the COVID-19 pandemic. | PHOTO: Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority
SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — The number of workers currently employed by various companies in this free port has breached the 145,000-mark and is expected to increase by the end of the year due to more relaxed restrictions related to COVID-19, an official said.
In a statement on Tuesday (June 14), Rolen Paulino, chair and administrator of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), said the 145, 230 workers here were employed by 3,689 companies and locators.
Citing data, Paulino said 64,474 of the 145,230 workers are residents of the adjacent Olongapo City, accounting for 44.39 percent of the total workforce.
Paulino noted that the number of workers who are from Olongapo City went up by 9.35 percent compared with the 58,960 recorded last year.
Workers from the province of Zambales make up the second highest contributor to the total workforce, reaching 27,087 employees, or five percent higher than last year’s 25,798.
The province of Bataan ranked third with 18,062 employees, which rose by 2.5 percent from last year’s 17,611.
Data also showed that Subic’s workforce included residents from the National Capital Region with 5,091 workers; Pampanga with 4,170 workers; Tarlac with 1,900 workers; and various other areas in the country with 24,446 employees.
According to Paulino, the service-related sector has the highest number of employees hired with 107,056 workers, followed by the manufacturing sector with 20,677 workers, then by the construction sector with 12,480 workers, and lastly the shipbuilding/maritime-related services with 5,017 workers.
“The agency is looking forward to the next few months as more and more companies are investing here in Subic Bay Freeport. I am quite certain that the numbers will go up, especially now that most of the workers here are fully vaccinated,” Paulino said.
The Japanese firm Nidec Subic, which manufactures reducer gears for robotic applications, is planning a P4-billion expansion project that will increase its workforce by 84 percent, from the current 625 to 4,028 for the next three years, Paulino said.
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