Minister for Regional Development John Barilaro welcomed new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) confirming regional employment in NSW has grown by over 50,000 jobs in the past year.
Mr Barilaro said the data shows the largest increase in employment compared to all other regional areas in the country with an increase of 4.6 per cent over the year ending September 2015.
“This is another great result for regional NSW and confirms the investment being made in our communities is delivering business confidence and jobs.
“Our record investment in infrastructure is supporting regional initiatives to create jobs, provide more career pathways, and deliver better services to supply the economic potential of regional NSW,” Mr Barilaro said.
Some of the best regional performers over the year to September 2015 were; the Richmond-Tweed region where employment rose by over 17,000 new jobs, and employment in the Shoalhaven and the Southern Highlands region increased by over 10,000 jobs.
Initiatives to boost business investment and job growth in regional NSW include:
· Funding of $26 million to fix mobile phone black spots,
· Investing $110 million in to the Regional Tourism Infrastructure Fund, and
· Delivering the $32 million Murray Darling Basin Regional Economic Diversification initiative.