Services is now the top economic driver of the Cordillera region based on the latest survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority.
"Services driven by tourism activities especially in Baguio and Benguet has surpassed the industry sector as the top job generator and source of livelihood of the people," said Villafe Alibuyog, regional director of PSA-Cordillera, in an interview on the sidelines of the 2022 Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI) Data Dissemination Forum and the 2024 Quarterly Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (QSPBI) Respondents' Forum here on Tuesday afternoon.
The services industry includes activities related to wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, transportation and storage; accommodation and food service activities; information and communication; and financial and insurance activities including real estate activities.
Also included in the sector are professional, scientific and technical activities, administrative and support service activities, education, human health and social work activities, arts, entertainment and recreation and other services activities.
The director said the tourism industry is slowly recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic with numerous employment generated.
"May indirect effect din yan na nagdadagdag na gumanda ang economy sector (It also has an indirect effect that contributes to the growth of the economy),” she said.
In 2022, the latest survey shows that Cordillera contributed 1.9 percent of the country’s share in terms of the number of formal establishments in the country. Services contributed 92.1 percent compared to the 7.5 percent of the industry sector and the 0.4 percent of the agriculture sector.
In terms of income, the average annual income of workers in the region was placed at PHP318,281, making it the third highest in the top three average annual compensation per paid employee.
Alibuyog explained that the agriculture is doing fine especially with interventions being provided by the government. But in comparison, the industry sector has higher contribution.
“Remember that when you talk of industries, you talk of trillions in pesos or dollars compared to the millions in term of production or sales in the agriculture,” she said.
The Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI) is one of the designated statistical activities of the government.
It generates the essential statistics required for economic planning and analysis which aims to collect and generate information on the levels, structure, performance, and trends of economic activities of the formal sector of the economy.
Included in the survey are Business Process Management (BPM) activities and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) using data on employment.
