The City of Melbourne’s economy is now worth more than $100 billion annually for the first time in the city’s history.
The 2018 Census of Land Use and Employment (CLUE) – compiled by the City of Melbourne – found the city’s Gross Local Product (GLP) grew more than five per cent last year to reach $100.3 billion.
Melbourne Lord Mayor Sally Capp said the city’s economic growth rate was significantly higher than the national average.
“Melbourne is one of fastest growing cities in Australia and we are now unequivocally a major driver of the national economy,” the Lord Mayor said.
“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.
“Over the past decade we’ve seen massive employment growth across the city, reaching more than 479,200 jobs across 16,800 businesses in 2018.”
The CLUE data also found there had been a 243 per cent increase in employment in Docklands over the previous decade – an increase of 51,600 jobs.
“Docklands is coming of age and leading the city in terms of job growth,” the Lord Mayor said.
“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.”
Residential development was a major contributor to the city’s growth over the past decade, according to the CLUE data.
“We’ve added 12,630 new dwellings to the CBD in the past ten years. The growth in our CBD alone is the equivalent of the entire amount of housing within the City of Adelaide,” the Lord Mayor said.
“Melbourne is Australia’s most liveable city and we are investing significantly to enhance our city – whether it is through new parks and public spaces upgrades or hosting major festivals and events.
“Residents, businesses and visitors are telling us they’re all being drawn to our vibrant economy, strong employment, world-class events calendar and our food and café culture. Melbourne has become Australia’s most desirable city.”
Council’s CLUE data platform has been revolutionized in 2019 thanks to funding from the Australian Government Smart Cities and Suburbs Grant, and co-contributions from the City of Melbourne and the Inner Melbourne Action Plan (IMAP) councils – Port Phillip, Yarra, Maribyrnong and Stonnington.
The new cloud based CLUE platform will be made available to all Australian Local Governments, giving the new capability of CLUE mobile data collection and data driven reporting across councils.
