About half of all the business establishments in the region still belong to the Wholesale and Retail Trade category, based on the latest data from the 2017 List of Establishments of the Philippine Statistics Authority. Central Luzon posted the third highest number of enterprises in the country based on the PSA List, with a total of 103,329, just behind Calabarzon with 137,808 establishments and the National Capital Region with 192,316 establishments.
Region 3’s total include 48,501establishments, or 47% of the total, and are classified under the Wholesale and Retail Trade, Repair of Motor Vehicles and Motorcycles category. Another 13,367 are in the manufacturing category while 11,179 were listed as belonging to the Accommodation and Food Service categories. The Department of Trade and Industry still expects a rise in the number of establishments this year as the construction industry is expected to continue to grow. In addition, the hosting of the region of many of the activities of the upcoming Southeast Asian Games is also expected to boost business in the region, especially near the Clark Freeport area.
In 2015, there were 101,176 business establishments in Central Luzon as listed by the PSA. This grew to 103,546 in 2016 and slightly decreased to 103,329 in 2017.
In 2018, the DTI-3 reported that it has assisted a total of 29,443 establishments throughout the region through its provincial offices providing services such as business advisory, trade fair assistance, export assistance, Shared Service Facility provision, product development, mentoring, financial linkage, market matching, training and other capacity building programs and types of assistance. It also assists barangay based enterprises through the implementation of the Barangay Micro Business Enterprise Act or RA 9178.
