KPMG says Perth clear to ditch the boom-bust tag with 192,000 new jobs predicted by 2030
Perth is on track to have 192,000 jobs up for grabs in the next five years, driven by an influx of young working professionals and a strong housing pipeline.
KPMG Perth Partner Matt Woods was encouraged by the figures from the professional services firm, saying it showed the city had broken free of its reputation as a boom-bust town.
AUKUS, the State Government's Made in WA plan, and a raft of new energy projects prompted KPMG to take an even more bullish outlook than its forecast last year of an extra 159,000 jobs by 2030.
There are currently 1.3 million working people in Perth out of a population of 2.4 million across Greater Perth.
While unlikely to dent Perth's rock solid reputation as a mining town, it was the healthcare sector that recorded the biggest employment growth in 2024 with an additional 23,500 jobs added.
'That's perhaps not unexpected given the population increase that we've had, people migrating into Perth to take advantage of those employment opportunities, coupled with the ageing population necessitates growth in that sector.' Mr Woods said.
An extra 10,500 new positions in white collar professional services work, and another 6500 jobs in construction and education respectively were added, according to KPMG's Enterprising Cities report.
'I think the historical view that Perth is a bit of a boom-bust town is dead. We've seen six years of economic growth and Budget surpluses and an economy that is starting to diversify which is really positive for those of us that live in Perth.'
Net overseas migration was the biggest driver of Greater Perth's population growth in the 2023-2024 financial year, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
KPMG noted in its report covering the calendar year that the 20–29 age group increased the most, growing by 22,700 people. The 30s cohort followed, increasing by 12,000 people.
'I suspect that's as a result of the opportunities that exist for employment in Perth,' Mr Woods said. 'What's really important is we're getting the workforce migrating to Perth . . . the workers that are going to come here and deliver into those job opportunities.'
The prospect of accommodating those workers — an issue not unique to Perth — is also improving, according to KPMG.
Dwelling approvals in 2024 rose to 16,583, a meaningful increase on the 10,481 approvals in 2023 and above the five-year average of 15,360.
'The problem is by no means solved but the metric is moving in the right direction,' Mr Woods said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
10 hours ago
- West Australian
Cost-of-living pressures sees Aussies take on a second job
The post-Covid boom in the number of Aussies working multiple jobs continues as higher cost of living pressures means more workers are taking on a second gig. The Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that in the March quarter there were 963,100 Aussies – or 6.5 per cent of the workforce – who had more than one job. While this is actually down from the previous quarter where 999,500 Australians held multiple jobs, it is still a sharp uptick in workers looking to diversify their incomes compared with the years prior to Covid, where around 5 to 6 per cent of Aussies took on a second gig. Seek senior economist Blair Chapman said the spike in cost-of-living pressures from inflation meant more Australians needed to take on extra work. 'We've really seen cost-of-living, especially for employee households, increase quite a lot over the last couple of years,' he said. 'If you've got a mortgage, those repayments have increased quite a bit over the last couple of years so I suspect people have sought a second job just to reach the higher cost of living recently.' Australians are holding onto their second job despite the overall unemployment rate holding firm in recent months, around the 4.1 per cent mark. The main driving force behind this trend is underemployment meaning workers are getting fewer hours from their primary employer than they'd like. 'We are seeing more people being employed in industries where we tend to see a lot of multiple job holdings,' Mr Chapman said. 'For example, we've seen healthcare and social assistance grow and that is one of the industries where multiple job holdings are most common. 'That comes down to the nature of the work, where you have shift work and one business may not be able to provide all the hours an employee wants so the individual has to work across multiple sites to get the hours they are desiring.' Many of these multiple job holders are Australians aged between 20-24, with women more likely to hold a second role over males. In contrast older Australians aged between 60 to 64 are the least likely to hold a second role. 'When we look at a lot of the multiple job holders, they tend to be younger. Maybe it is a university aged person who can't work full-time but can work nights and weekends,' Mr Chapman said. 'While maybe it is not the same job but for them it is probably good they can work multiple jobs with flexible hours.'
Perth Now
10 hours ago
- Perth Now
Reason Aussies are working multiple jobs
The post-Covid boom in the number of Aussies working multiple jobs continues as higher cost of living pressures means more workers are taking on a second gig. The Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that in the March quarter there were 963,100 Aussies – or 6.5 per cent of the workforce – who had more than one job. While this is actually down from the previous quarter where 999,500 Australians held multiple jobs, it is still a sharp uptick in workers looking to diversify their incomes compared with the years prior to Covid, where around 5 to 6 per cent of Aussies took on a second gig. Seek senior economist Blair Chapman said the spike in cost-of-living pressures from inflation meant more Australians needed to take on extra work. 'We've really seen cost-of-living, especially for employee households, increase quite a lot over the last couple of years,' he said. Women are more likely to take on multiple roles compared to men. NewsWire / David Mariuz Credit: News Corp Australia 'If you've got a mortgage, those repayments have increased quite a bit over the last couple of years so I suspect people have sought a second job just to reach the higher cost of living recently.' Australians are holding onto their second job despite the overall unemployment rate holding firm in recent months, around the 4.1 per cent mark. The main driving force behind this trend is underemployment meaning workers are getting fewer hours from their primary employer than they'd like. 'We are seeing more people being employed in industries where we tend to see a lot of multiple job holdings,' Mr Chapman said. 'For example, we've seen healthcare and social assistance grow and that is one of the industries where multiple job holdings are most common. Aussies in the healthcare sector are most likely to take on multiple jobs. NewsWire / David Crosling Credit: News Corp Australia 'That comes down to the nature of the work, where you have shift work and one business may not be able to provide all the hours an employee wants so the individual has to work across multiple sites to get the hours they are desiring.' Many of these multiple job holders are Australians aged between 20-24, with women more likely to hold a second role over males. In contrast older Australians aged between 60 to 64 are the least likely to hold a second role. 'When we look at a lot of the multiple job holders, they tend to be younger. Maybe it is a university aged person who can't work full-time but can work nights and weekends,' Mr Chapman said. 'While maybe it is not the same job but for them it is probably good they can work multiple jobs with flexible hours.'
News.com.au
10 hours ago
- News.com.au
Cost-of-living pressures sees Aussies take on a second job
The post-Covid boom in the number of Aussies working multiple jobs continues as higher cost of living pressures means more workers are taking on a second gig. The Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that in the March quarter there were 963,100 Aussies – or 6.5 per cent of the workforce – who had more than one job. While this is actually down from the previous quarter where 999,500 Australians held multiple jobs, it is still a sharp uptick in workers looking to diversify their incomes compared with the years prior to Covid, where around 5 to 6 per cent of Aussies took on a second gig. Seek senior economist Blair Chapman said the spike in cost-of-living pressures from inflation meant more Australians needed to take on extra work. 'We've really seen cost-of-living, especially for employee households, increase quite a lot over the last couple of years,' he said. 'If you've got a mortgage, those repayments have increased quite a bit over the last couple of years so I suspect people have sought a second job just to reach the higher cost of living recently.' Australians are holding onto their second job despite the overall unemployment rate holding firm in recent months, around the 4.1 per cent mark. The main driving force behind this trend is underemployment meaning workers are getting fewer hours from their primary employer than they'd like. 'We are seeing more people being employed in industries where we tend to see a lot of multiple job holdings,' Mr Chapman said. 'For example, we've seen healthcare and social assistance grow and that is one of the industries where multiple job holdings are most common. 'That comes down to the nature of the work, where you have shift work and one business may not be able to provide all the hours an employee wants so the individual has to work across multiple sites to get the hours they are desiring.' Many of these multiple job holders are Australians aged between 20-24, with women more likely to hold a second role over males. In contrast older Australians aged between 60 to 64 are the least likely to hold a second role. 'When we look at a lot of the multiple job holders, they tend to be younger. Maybe it is a university aged person who can't work full-time but can work nights and weekends,' Mr Chapman said. 'While maybe it is not the same job but for them it is probably good they can work multiple jobs with flexible hours.'
