NSW Has Most Professional Job Vacancies in Regional Australia

December 4 2019

Professional jobs seekers looking for a ‘tree-change’ should explore work opportunities in regional NSW, with the First State now boasting the most vacancies in this sector across the country.

Regional Australia Institute (RAI) co-CEO Dr Kim Houghton says new figures show there were more than 12,800 jobs advertised in October in regional NSW – and one in four are professional roles.

“Across the nine areas in regional NSW, there were more than 3630 professional jobs on offer. These roles include doctors, nurses, finance workers, human resource managers, engineers, educational professionals, and sales and marketing managers,” Dr Houghton said.

“Despite the fact that many areas in NSW are enduring the worst drought in history, these new figures show there are still some fantastic work prospects.

“Additionally, if you move away from the coast, job vacancy rates are growing, with the Riverina-Murray area increasing by 23% in just 2 years,” Dr Houghton said.

The Dubbo and Western NSW area has seen a 10.3% increase, with the Blue Mountains, Bathurst and Central West area recording an 11.3% increase in job vacancies from 2017-19.

“We know many communities are working locally to come up with solutions to fill these roles, and the RAI encourages professionals to look beyond the sandstone curtain,” Dr Houghton said.

“Earlier this year, the Orana region in NSW joined the Northern Territory, South Australia, Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Victoria’s Great South Coast, to enter into a five year Designated Area Migration Agreement (DAMA), which we hope will also attract skilled workers to the regions,” Dr Houghton said.

Today, the RAI is hosting the Deputy Premier of NSW, the Hon. John Barilaro, as well as senior industry leaders and regional stakeholders in Sydney as part of its national roadshow, Regions Rising 2019 – with Population, Migration and Jobs on the agenda.

RAI co-CEO Liz Ritchie says the RAI report, Regional Population Growth – Are we Ready? raises key issues about the future of regional NSW.

“Our report tests the economic consequences relating to incomes if we change the national population trajectory we are on and move to a higher regional growth scenario. This means pulling policy levers to encourage people to take up work opportunities in regional NSW,” Liz Ritchie said.

By 2056, outer Sydney is expected to double in size to more than 7 million people. However, regional centres will only increase 46% – yet job vacancy rates in regional areas are outstripping our capital cities.

“Regional NSW is changing, and with that comes boundless opportunities to re-think what it will look like, and how we want to shape our country as a whole. Today is about fostering that conversation,” Liz Ritchie said.

Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has come on board as a major sponsor and partner of the Regions Rising 2019 series. John Carvin, State Community Business Manager – NSW/ACT, will also address today’s event.

Regions Rising NSW is the final public event in the RAI’s Regions Rising roadshow for 2019. More information is available at regionsrising.regionalaustralia.org.au.

A copy of the RAI’s Regional Population Growth – Are we ready? report and the RAI’s Regional Job Vacancy Map is available here.

What: Regions Rising NSW
When: Wednesday 4 December
Time: 7.00am – 10.40am
Where: KPMG Sydney, Level 26, Tower 3, International Towers Sydney, 300 Barangaroo Avenue, NSW 2000

NSW REGIONAL JOB VACANCIES

For all media enquiries, please contact:
Dominique Schwartz
M: 0411 485 747
E: [email protected]