About 810,000 of Cordillera’s 832,000 workers were employed in 2025, giving the region the country’s highest employment rate at 97.3% and beating the 95.8% national average.
That lead came even as labor force participation fell 1.2 percentage points to 63.8%, below the 64.1% national rate, meaning fewer residents aged 15 and older were working or seeking work.
Mountain Province drove the region’s strong showing with a 98.5% employment rate and 1.5% unemployment, while Baguio City lagged locally at 95.8% employment and the highest unemployment rate at 4.2%.
Underemployment still affected about 95,000 workers, or 11.7% of the employed, with Kalinga and Apayao posting the region’s highest rates at 24.5% and 24.2%.
Nationally, Cordillera narrowly edged Davao’s 97.1% employment rate, while CALABARZON ranked last among regions at 94.2% and Basilan had the lowest provincial or city rate at 90.9%.
Cordillera has the nation's best employment rate, but who is being left behind in this success story?
With a national crisis growing, can the Cordillera region's top-ranked job market survive the economic storm of 2026?