ALMOST 780 jobs have been created each year in the past five years in Bendigo, according to new data released this week.
Bendigo-based company Compelling Economics has collated latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figure to give a snapshot of the City of Greater Bendigo council area from 2001 to 2008.
Over that time, 3883 jobs were created across the municipality with the health and community services sector leading the rise, with 796 jobs created.
Government administration and defence sector rose by 728 in the period, and 623 jobs were created in the construction sector.
The drought hit the agriculture sector hard, with 265 jobs lost in the area over the five-year period.
Job losses were also felt in the wholesale trade sector (91) and cultural and recreational services (34). More people work in the
retail area in Bendigo than anywhere else (6747), with health (5498) in second place and manufacturing (4078) the third biggest employer.
Overall, the five years to 2006 saw 34,406 people employed in Bendigo, a rise of almost 12 per cent.
Manufacturing still leads the way in the city’s regional output. Of the $8.497 billion of gross output of the region, the manufacturing sector contributes almost one quarter – $2.194 billion. Construction is next in line ($800 million), followed by property and business services ($718 million) and retail trade ($702 million).
Manufacturing also leads the way in the amount of regional exports from Bendigo.
Overall, there were $2.185 billion worth of goods and services sales out of the region, a jump of 40 per cent compared to 2001.
Manufacturing acc- ounts for more than $1 billion of that, a long way ahead of mining ($357 million) and finance and insurance ($200 million).
Other areas of note include a 23 per cent rise in the amount of regional imports from 2001 to 2006 to $2.2 billion and an overall gross regional product of the area valued at $3.98 billion.
Council’s City Futures director Stan Liacos said the figures showed Bendigo’s economy was diverse and wasn’t dependent on one single sector.
“These statistics are quite pleasing for our
region,” he said.
“It is very pleasing to see that manufacturing is still such a powerful player in our economy.”