Subic Jobs - PESO - Olongapo City

28.3.06

Hanjin opens 6,500 jobs in biggest job fair in Subic

Shipbuilder Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction (HHIC) offered some 6,500 jobs on Wednesday in the biggest job fair ever held here by a single company.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Administrator Armand C. Arreza noted that this is just the initial manpower requirement of the Korean firm, which is building a US$ 721 million shipbuilding facility in the Redondo Peninsula. When fully operational, the projected Hanjin work force is more than 20,000.

Arreza said the Korean shipbuilder’s operations in Subic Bay “will have a significant impact on the national economy and on employment” – affirming the statement of a top Hanjin executive that the company’s operations can change the country’s GNP.

“With its projected output of about 16 ships a year and given a minimum work force of 7,000, Hanjin could infuse at least US$ 1.6 billion into the economy in terms of export values, taxes and workers’ income,” the SBMA Administrator explained.

Positions such as engineers, welders, pipefitters, foremen, crane operators, and agriculturists are being offered by Hanjin for the construction of its facility and initial ship repair operations.

Hanjin Operations Manager C. Y. Kim said that construction of their Subic Bay shipyard is set to begin next month and will be completed by 2016.

“We have to send a number of applicants to Korea for a three-month training course before we actually take them into the Hanjin work force,” Kim said.

Hanjin executives attended the job fair and conducted on-the-spot interviews with the applicants, with the assistance of the SBMA Labor Department headed by Atty. Severo Pastor. Olongapo City officials led by Mayor James “Bong” Gordon Jr. also graced the whole day activity.

Pastor said the SBMA has also been bringing its job fair program to different areas in Central Luzon, in accordance with the Arroyo Administration’s thrust of generating one million jobs for the Filipino people.