Have we regained our mojo?
Long-time Townsvillians may be cautious with those words, but the North’s largest city is a national top 10 job creation zone and there are thousands of jobs across a variety of industries on offer.
Add to this more than $3bn in significant projects and the region is performing better; better than other regions and better than last year and better than five years ago.
It’s an amazing effort by the Townsville region. Recent data from TP Human Capital and SEEK shows there are almost 2000 ‘advertised’ local jobs on offer. Recent official jobs numbers confirm a pleasing recovery after Covid-19 and the 2016-19 depression. North Australia’s largest city needs workers to build a new Townsville. The Townsville region’s outstanding jobs recovery from Covid was expected.
The region’s unemployment rate is currently in the ‘Goldilocks zone’, having dropped 1.5 points year on year and is well below the region’s long run average. Males have recovered jobs quicker, with their unemployment rate improving 3.4 points year on year. Participation is up. Business confidence remains positive. Residential construction is performing better. Commercial property inquiry is up.
Agriculture is performing well and so too is mining, but with this different economic activity comes new challenges. The region is under pressure with skills gaps and deficits, many projects will take longer to complete, and costs are likely to rise.
Even if Townsville can attract enough workers, how will it house them? Longer term there’s the Brisbane Olympics.
The Brisbane 2032 Olympics will cost billions and is widely recognised to shift skilled workers from regional Queensland to southeast Queensland. Regions need a plan to manage all these challenges over the next decade.
So does Townsville have its economic mojo back? This economist sees sufficient evidence that it does. But having regained its economic mojo it has new challenges. Townsville needs all levels of government, business and community to work together to capitalise on its better performance.