Local jobs triple

Docklands is the place to be if you’re looking for work, with local jobs tripling in the last 10 years.

The most recent Census of Land Use and Employment (CLUE) data, released by the City of Melbourne last month, found that there were 53,300 jobs in Docklands, up from 14,700 in 2005.

According to the council, Docklands has seen the largest increase in employment across the Melbourne municipality.

When launching the data, Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said the ongoing CLUE study meant we could see the City of Melbourne’s long-term planning come to fruition.

“One of the most interesting indicators of this growth is the 38,600 new jobs created in Docklands, a growth area which is only half complete,” Cr Doyle said.

CLUE provides information about economic activity, tracks changes in land use and identifies key trends in employment. It is collected through face-to-face interviews with every business in the Melbourne municipality.

The most recent update indicates that the most prevalent industry in Docklands is finance and insurance services, which employs more than 22,000 people.

The second largest industry is professional, scientific and technical services (around 6000 employees), followed by public administration and safety (just over 5000 employees).

Given the surge in local jobs over the last decade, it’s no surprise that Docklands has more than 990,000 sqm devoted to office use.

Other significant uses of Docklands space include parking (943,200 sqm) and accommodation (782,272 sqm).

However, at the other end of the scale, “community use” only occupies 3969 sqm of space.

Across Melbourne generally, the data reveals there were 29,000 new dwellings and 8 million sqm of floor space added to the municipality in the last 10 years.

The CLUE data found that Melbourne’s economy is now worth 44 per cent more than it was in 2005, valued at $90.6 billion.

The number of jobs across the Melbourne municipality has also increased by 33 per cent in the past decade, with 450, 336 local jobs.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said the latest data reinforced anecdotal evidence and reports from other agencies and business that the city’s economy was booming.

“We are growing in a smart and sustainable way with out largest industries being professional services, finance, insurance and technology, clean-tech and biotech – paving the way for an innovative knowledge economy,” Cr Doyle said.

“Great cities provide great opportunities for their people.”

“This report also highlights that cities continue to be the economic engine rooms of our nation. Melbourne now represents a third of Victoria’s total economic activity,” Cr Doyle said.