Leading job growth

By Aphrodite Feros-Fook 

Docklands has experienced a 243 per cent employment increase in the past decade, the equivalent of 51,600 jobs, according to the City of Melbourne’s 2018 Census of Land Use and Employment (CLUE) released in November.

In response to the data, Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said Docklands was “coming of age” and “leading the city in terms of job growth. 

The CLUE data has found the City of Melbourne’s economy is now worth more than $100 billion annually for the first time in the city’s history. The gross local product (GLP) grew more than five per cent to reach an estimated $100.3 billion in 2018.

Cr Capp said the city’s economic growth rate was significantly higher than the national average.

“Melbourne is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia and we are now unequivocally a major driver of the national economy.”

“Incredibly our $100.3 billion GLP is more than the gross state product of Tasmania, the Northern Territory and the ACT – a combined $96 billion,” she said.

The report recognised Docklands at the forefront of job growth in the municipality with half of new employment opportunities in the past two years occurring in Docklands, with 14,200 extra jobs. Docklands also accounted for 70 per cent of all job growth in the past decade in the City of Melbourne.

“Despite the well-known teething problems with such an ambitious urban renewal project, Docklands is now a crucial hub for job creation in our city. The employment growth in Docklands shows confidence in the future of the city’s economy,” Cr Capp said 

In comparison, Parkville showed a 34 per cent increase, Southbank a 23 per cent increase, and the CBD a two per cent increase in jobs since 2008.

According to the CLUE data, the industries leading this growth are business services, finance and insurance, and public administration and safety.

Collins Square, one of Australia’s largest commercial developments, was named in the CLUE report as a predominant contributor to the job growth in Docklands with the complex alone adding 7900 jobs in the past two years.

Major businesses such as the Commonwealth Bank, Australian Taxation Office, Mercer, AECOM, KPEG, Penguin Publishing and Tabcorp Holdings have established their head offices in Collins Square since its completion in 2017.

The report showed residential development in Melbourne has also been a major contributor to the city’s growth over the past decade.

“The growth in our CBD alone is the equivalent of the entire amount of housing within the City of Adelaide,” Cr Capp said.

The data showed that 12,630 new residential dwellings were added in the CBD, 5910 in Southbank and 5200 in Docklands during the past decade, with the northern parts of the CBD specified as having contributed a significant increase.

Cr Capp said: “We are investing significantly to enhance our city - whether it is through new parks and public spaces upgrades or hosting major festivals and events.”

“Melbourne has become Australia’s most desirable city,” she said.

For a copy of the full CLUE report visit melbourne.vic.gov.au/clue