The Hills. Alive with sales and jobs

Total sales by local companies in the Sydney Hills has grown from $9.8 billion to $17.1 billion in three years, according to economic modelling figures compiled by Compelling Economics. Jobs have increased from 44,000 in 2007 to 51,000 local jobs in January 2010 and wages have increased from $2.4 billion to $4 billion. The largest contributors to the economy in the last three years have been property and business, and construction – with construction growing by a massive 230 per cent in that time. "Council's economic development team has this modelling and forecasting information available for local businesses to use, and can drill this data down to 109 sectors of the local economy," said Mayor Peter Dimbrowsky. The Hills has a GRP of $7.1 billion compared to Parramatta’s $14.2 billion.