Parramatta. Job figures in question

Figures produced by the government's Transport Data Centre, in December, contain jobs forecasts in 12 ''centres'' sharply below those in the government's main planning document that guides Sydney's growth, the Metropolitan Strategy, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.. While the Metropolitan Strategy, for example, forecast Parramatta would get more than 70,000 new jobs by 2036, the TDC predictions have slashed that number by about 20,000 to just over 50,000. A spokesman for the Department of Planning rejected the findings of the inquiry and said the Transport Data Centre figures should be ignored. ''The Transport Data Centre figures are a projection of raw data based on a 'business as usual' assumption, not taking into account the government's policy of creating new jobs within existing centres, close to transport and other infrastructure,'' he said.