Region. Factors driving quality jobs

The Metropolitan Strategy’s jobs target – 280,000 net additional jobs in Western Sydney by 2031– cannot be achieved without substantial re-engineering of the regional economy. Manufacturing and materials handling sectors are not significant jobs generators and face significant challenges in maintaining current employment bases, with the recession and national measures addressing climate change. Quality jobs will not appear by market forces alone but come with geographical competencies making an area attractive to investors, quality infrastructure building an area’s links and networks, and urban structures that build efficiencies into business and everyday life, according to Professor Bill Randolph, from the UNSW Faculty of the Built Environment and Sharon Fingland, the assistant director, of the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) in a meeting with Tom Gellibrand, the new deputy director, planmaking and urban renewal, in the Department of Planning.

Region. Launch of jobs report

A Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Council’s (WSROC) commissioned report on employment strategies for the region will be launch on Wednesday, March 11, at the Crowne Plaza Parramatta. The report identifies strategies for the generation of a net additional 280,000 jobs for Western Sydney over the next 25 years, a goal set by the Metropolitan Strategy to ensure adequate employment opportunities for Western Sydney households as Sydney grows towards five million people. The report was undertaken by a consortium of leading researchers led by the Urban Research Centre at the University of Western Sydney. The report was commissioned by WSROC for the NSW Department of Planning.