Invest pledges down, but jobs created up

The Board of Investments yesterday reported a 24 percent drop in investment pledges for 2014 but the number of jobs created rose 54 percent from 38,100 last year to 58,619 this year.

The 78 percent surge in money pledged for manufacturing projects contributed substantially to the sharp rise of anticipated direct jobs despite the lower amount of total approved investments in 2014 of P354.5 billion compared to P466.03 billion in 2013.

Investment pledges for the manufacturing sector rose from P13.8 billion last year to P24.5 billion this year.

The surge in money pledged for manufacturing projects means more will have the chance to be employed. New jobs in this sector reached 2.3 million last year, an improvement of 1.5 percent from the previous year.

Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Adrian Cristobal Jr. said earlier this year that the average growth of the manufacturing sector accelerated from 2.4 percent in the period 2005-2009 to 7.9 percent in the period 2010-2013. The growth accelerated further in the first half of 2014 to 8.8 percent.

With the continuation of government finance programs and technical assistance, Cristobal said, the manufacturing sector is expected to generate even more jobs in the years ahead. The various industry or sectoral roadmaps, the BOI said helped in building up confidence in manufacturing. The BOI also created Technical Working Groups to help the industries.