Baguio City, Philippines – The Cordillera Administrative Region has seen a significant shift in its economic landscape, with the service sector now emerging as the primary driver of growth, according to the latest survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Villar Felipe Alibuyog, PSA-Cordillera Regional Director, announced during 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” held on Tuesday that the region, particularly Baguio and Benguet, has experienced a surge in tourism activities, propelling the service sector to become the top job creator and livelihood source, surpassing the industrial sector.

The service sector encompasses a wide range of industries, including wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, transportation and storage, accommodation and food service activities, information and communication, financial and insurance activities, and real estate activities.

Other subsectors such as professional, scientific and technical activities, administrative and support service activities, education, human health and social work activities, arts, entertainment and recreation, and other service activities also contribute to this sector.

Alibuyog attributed the growth of the service sector to the gradual recovery of the tourism industry from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has created numerous jobs. “This also has indirect effects that contribute to the growth of the economy,” he said.

As of 2022, the latest survey revealed that Cordillera accounted for 1.9% of the total number of formal establishments nationwide. The service sector dominated with a 92.1% share, followed by the industrial sector at 7.5% and the agricultural sector at 0.4%.

In terms of income, the annual average income of regional workers was recorded at ₱318,281, ranking third in terms of the average annual compensation per employee.

While acknowledging the government’s efforts to boost agriculture, Alibuyog emphasized the greater contribution of the industrial sector. “When we say industry, we are talking about trillions of pesos or dollars compared to the millions of pesos in terms of production or sales volume in agriculture,” he explained.

The Annual Survey of Philippine Business and Industry (ASPBI) is one of the government’s designated statistical activities. It aims to generate essential statistics needed for economic planning and analysis, and to collect and generate information on the level, structure, performance, and trends of economic activities in the formal sector of the economy. The survey includes small and medium enterprises (SMEs) using business process management (BPM) activities and employment data.