After a year that many may rather forget, there are glimmers of hope for 2010 with sectors of the Gold Coast economy start showing signs of recovery as the city’s focus shifts to job creation.Councillor Susie Douglas said Business Gold Coast, Gold Coast City Council’s economic development agency, has an employment creation target of 8,000 jobs annually.
City targets 8,000 new jobs per year for next 30 years
After a year that many may rather forget, there are glimmers of hope for 2010 with sectors of the Gold Coast economy start showing signs of recovery as the city’s focus shifts to job creation.
Councillor Susie Douglas said Business Gold Coast, Gold Coast City Council’s economic development agency, has an employment creation target of 8,000 jobs annually.
“It is forecast that Gold Coast City’s population will reach nearly 900,000 people by 2040, which is on par with the population of a capital city,” said Cr Douglas.
“To accommodate population growth of this magnitude, and to provide for a sustainable community, we must aspire to deliver employment across a range of industries to create a diverse and balanced economy.
“This challenge now facing the Gold Coast is the creation of approximately 8,000 new jobs each and every year over the next 30 years.
”There are currently around 172,000 full-time equivalent jobs in the city, with approximately 1 in every 2.5 jobs directly or indirectly related to the tourism and construction industries.
“This over reliance on tourism and construction makes the Gold Coast susceptible to international, national and state economic downturns. In order to safeguard the local economy against this, a strategy has been implemented to diversify the industry base, with a strong focus on creating knowledge based jobs,” said Cr Douglas.
Cr Douglas said Business GC had implemented a range of initiatives to achieve this target, including the Investment Attraction Scheme, which was born out of the need to stimulate growth in the local economy.
“Throughout 2009, Business GC has been focused on implementing strategies that will help revitalise the economy, stimulate growth and create employment,” said Cr Douglas.
Council’s $90 million stimulus package approved this year is the first of its kind by a local government authority in Australia.
Within this package, Council endorsed a $2.6 million Investment Attraction Scheme, which provides financial assistance to encourage new and targeted investment to expand or move to the city.
The scheme was launched in October with a Business Roadshow which took in Sydney and Melbourne, a key outcome of this year’s Gold Coast Bulletin Rescue Patrol.
The roadshow will be expanded in 2010 to take in other Australian capital cities and New Zealand.
Other outcomes achieved by Business GC in 2009 include:
· Export Program (includes TradeStart and International Business Development Program) – $70 million in new export sales, creation of 520 jobs.
· Film – $150 million spent on film production and creation of over 1,350 jobs (directly and indirectly), James Cameron’s ‘Sanctum’ commenced with a $30 million spend and 200 local jobs.
· High Performance Sport – 80 teams visited, 17 individual athletes, total expenditure of over $1 million at major Gold Coast facilities and venues.
· Jobs Matching Expo – 26 exhibitors, 2,300 job seekers, over 1,260 job vacancies available on the day, more than 104 job seekers matched with positions on the day.
· Gold Coast Innovation Centre – 9 companies currently part of the incubator program with 29 full time and 4 part time workers, $1.1 million raised in capital, pursuing a further $6.6 million in capital, 2 companies ‘graduated’: MyCyberTwin and MigcoBio.
· Renovation Expo – 35 local tradespeople exhibited, 600 attendees, currently over 100 firm business leads, $260,00 in confirmed contracts and potential for a further $1.1 million in local works.
A new Economic Development Strategy for the City has recently been completed and will be presented to Council in early 2010.
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