Local business and industry associates joined Griffith City Council Mayor Doug Curran for an economic update on the Griffith region on Tuesday.
Businesses and community groups heard firsthand from Katrina Houghton from .id (Informed Decisions) provided an overview of the economic changes which have occurred in our area between 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.
The presentation included details regarding changes to local jobs, gross regional product as well as a breakdown of industry changes.
Each year .id releases their annual State of the Region’s economic dataset.
This national dataset provides economic and employment data for every Local Government Authority (LGA) in Australia, including Griffith City Council.
With the economic disruption over the last few years, this dataset was one of .id’s most significant releases, as local economies work towards recovery.
Griffith Mayor, Councillor Doug Curran, said it was a good opportunity for businesses interested in the state of the economy to hear what the real impacts of COVID are and where we are now.
“Now that new census data is available, it was great to have an expert advice and the figures explained and for us to have questions answered. New 2021 census data will also be released at the end of this month,” Councillor Curran said.
“This event was part of ongoing community consultation with relevant sectors on items of particular interest to them.
“It was wonderful to see so many interested people attend. I think we all walked away better-informed having had the data explained.”
Some of the data presented and explained during the event included:
- Agriculture, manufacturing and health care provide the greatest amount of profitability in our economy and continue to grow steadily
- There has been a 24% increase in the number of GST registered businesses since December 2015
- The number of residents on jobseeker payments are back to pre COVID-19 levels
- Griffith’s building approval figures have been steadily increasing year on year since 2019.
The Lunch with Mayor Curran event was held in the Griffith City Library Multipurpose Room, with more than 20 in attendance including Member for Murray, Helen Dalton.
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