BAGUIO CITY – Micro, small and medium enterprises in the Cordillera account for more than seventy five percent of the more than one hundred thousand jobs in the different parts of the region as shown by the results of the latest survey conducted by concerned government agencies last year.
Based on data from the Cordillera office of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA-CAR), the total work force of the region as of 2021 was 106,513 with 80,527 jobs generated by the 22,493 MSME establishments while large businesses account for only 25,968 jobs.
However, the jobs generated by the MSMEs in 2021 was 9.3 percent lower compared to the 88,753 jobs that were generated by the 20,417 businesses in the region in 2018.
Of the 88,753 jobs that have been generated by the MSMEs 3 years ago, some 49,399 jobs were produced by micro establishments, 32,710 workers were employed by the small businesses and 6,644 jobs were generated by medium enterprises.
Compared to the jobs that were generated in 2018, the 50,757 jobs produced by micro businesses in 2021 was only 2.7 percent higher than the 49,399 workers employed by the micro businesses 3 years ago.
Ironically, the 25,698 workers employed by the small businesses in 2021 was 20.6 percent lower than the 32,710 workers employed by the same sector in 2018.
The 3,802 workers employed by the medium businesses in 2021 was also 42.8 percent lower than the 6,644 employees employed by the same sector 3 years ago.
Juliet Lucas, regional director of the Cordillera office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI-CAR), disclosed that around 70 percent of the MSMEs are based in urban centers around the region, mostly in Baguio and Benguet, but their number in other growing communities are also significantly increasing.
She claimed that the vibrance of the country’s economy can achieve its pre-pandemic level by 2024 depending on the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic but efforts of both the government and the private sectors are geared towards economic recovery to sustain the generation of more jobs and sustained economic activities and sources of livelihood of the people, especially the displaced workers.
According to her, the agency, in coordination with other concerned government office, are extending various assistance to the MSMEs, particularly those engaged in agri-business and tourism, to allow the recovery of the heavily impacted sector to bring back the vibrance of the country’s economy and allow people to regain productive economic activities to pre-pandemic levels.
Further, she added that the agency is also extending assistance to start-up businesses, particularly on capability building, to allow these to market their business and grow to be competitive and generate more jobs.
