December 11, 2019
Toowoomba region’s Gross Regional Product has passed the $11 billion mark for the first time.
Mayor Paul Antonio, who chairs Toowoomba Regional Council’s Economic Development committee, said the region’s diverse economy had pushed the region’s GRP to $11.56 billion (adjusted for inflation) for the year to June 30, 2019, up $340 million on the previous year.
He said the region first passed the $10 billion GRP mark two years ago.
“The latest reported yearly figures equate to regional economic growth of 3.0 per cent per annum. This far exceeds national economic growth (2.0 per cent), State growth of -0.3 per cent and a rise of 1.5 per cent across regional Queensland for the year to June 30, 2019,” Mayor Antonio said.
“It is also pleasing to note that the figures show a continuing upward trend. Remarkably, our average growth over the past 10 years is more than 3.9 per cent per year, which also exceeds the State average of 1.85 per cent.
“Another particularly positive highlight is a 1.72 per cent increase in local jobs to 85,249, up from 83,807.
“Mining remains our most productive industry, generating $1.59 billion in 2018-19, which was a notable $467 million increase, or 41 per cent rise in output, compared with the previous year.
“Agriculture remains the other dominant industry by value-add, generating $832 million in 2018-19, which was a $33 million increase on the corresponding year.
“The health care and social assistance sector generated more than $1 billion in value-add in the past 12 months, an increase of $53 million on the past year. This sector also remains the region’s largest employer, with employment up by 15.9 per cent on 2018.
“Based on these figures, mining also had the largest total international exports by industry after generating more than $1.26 billion in 2018-19. This represents more than 51 per cent of the region’s total international exports.
“Mining ($2.43 billion), agriculture ($1.27 billion) and manufacturing ($1.2 billion) are the region’s dominant groups in total exports by industry.
“In combination, these three industries accounted for 63.8 per cent of the total exports across all industries in the Toowoomba Region.”
“The region also has one of the tightest labour markets in Queensland, with an unemployment rate of 5.0 per cent compared with the Queensland average of 6.1 per cent% (6.5% seasonally adjusted for October) and the national unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent (seasonally adjusted to 5.3 per cent for October) for the June 2019 quarter.
“Our region’s total unemployment numbers fell from 4687 for the March quarter 2019 to 4107 in the June quarter 2019.
“This latest unemployment rate is our region’s lowest since the June quarter 2018 and remains lower than the Queensland and Australian seasonally adjusted unemployment rates.
“Our population is expected to increase by 45,000 people to reach 210,000 by 2031.
“This will mean the creation of an additional 32,000 jobs in the Toowoomba region by 2041, with 10,000 of those to be located in Toowoomba’s CBD.
Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise (TSBE) CEO Ali Davenport said the latest data was good news for Toowoomba.
“Given that we’re in the worst drought in history and that agriculture is a large part of our GRP, these results go to prove how diverse and resilient our economy is,” Ms Davenport said.
