Economic zone firms return to hiring mode

SIXTY-TWO companies in the various economic zones are back in the hiring mode and will be employing 4,902 workers within the month, according to Lilia de Lima, director-general of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

These companies were anticipating an earlier recovery in the global demand for Philippine exports, mainly in the information technology and semiconductor industries, De Lima said.

Toshiba Information Equipment Philippines Inc. had already announced it was hiring 618 workers for its Laguna plant, De Lima said.

Integrated Microelectronics Inc. was also looking for 250 workers, also in Laguna. Another semiconductor company with hiring rates starting at P360 to P400 a day for entry-level jobs was scouting for 222 new workers, she said.

Call centers offer starting salaries of P16,000 to P18,000 a month.

Earlier, PEZA reported that 17,665 workers in the 41 economic zones lost their jobs from October 2008 to March 16 as the export-oriented firms reeled from the global recession.

Eighty five of the 274 companies within the zones retrenched workers, but only one, Intel, shut down its plant.

Another 55 companies, including one in Baguio, four in Bataan, 14 in Cavite, and seven in Mactan, shut down their plants from two weeks to six months to ride out the storm. –Elaine Ramos Alanguilan, Manila Standard Today