Tuesday, 11 July 2017

The Latrobe-Gippsland region is experiencing significant employment growth thanks to the Andrews Labor Government’s ongoing investment in schools, roads and rail upgrades.

Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing has today welcomed new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), showing that in the financial year to May 2017, employment in the Latrobe-Gippsland area has increased by 16,600 people, while in the three months to May 2017, employment rose by 1,800 people.

Victoria’s overall regional employment grew by 25,000, meaning that the Latrobe and Gippsland communities are leading the way in regional jobs growth.

The latest jobs data comes on the back of a record pipeline of investments in the region which are set to create more than 1,400 new jobs, including:

• the $435 million Gippsland Regional Rail Revival creating more than 400 jobs including a Latrobe Valley project office
• a new GovHub consolidating around 150 public sector jobs, and creating 100 new construction jobs
• $85 million in sporting infrastructure creating 300 construction jobs and hundreds of on-going roles
• The landmark Worker Transfer Scheme which is helping around 150 retrenched Hazelwood workers transition to other power generators.
Overall, since the Andrews Labor Government was elected in November 2014, employment in regional Victoria has increased by more than 50,000 persons, with almost 30,000 of those jobs full-time.

This is in contrast to the four, wasted years of the Liberal National Government which created only 5,600 jobs in regional Victoria.

Quotes attributable to Member for Eastern Victoria, Harriet Shing:

“Our region is a great place to do business and these jobs growth figures show that we are continuing to gather momentum – we’ll continue to make the investments needed to keep locals employed and to drive skills, education and training now and into the future as our population grows.”

“From the many development and construction projects taking shape across our region, to public sector employment opportunities – we are giving more Gippslanders the chance to make a contribution and drive our economy, whilst also cutting the cost of doing business and helping people to buy and build their own homes sooner.”