More than 162,000 jobs have been created in the Andrews Labor Government’s future industries priority sectors – delivering an $11 billion boost to Victoria’s economy since November 2014.
New figures show jobs in the Food & Fibre, Medical Technologies & Pharmaceuticals, Transport & Construction Technologies & Professional Services make up around half of all jobs created in Victoria since November 2014.
Victoria has created more than double the amount of jobs in these sectors compared to New South Wales and Queensland – cementing us as a jobs powerhouse.
Construction and professional services recorded the largest increases in employment, with the increase in construction jobs driven by the Labor Government’s record spend on infrastructure.
In the last 12 months alone, jobs in the future industries grew by 38,500 workers, while other parts of the country saw a decline, including New South Wales.
Through the Future Industries Fund, the Labor Government has provided direct support to 150 businesses, with financial assistance of over $30 million, driving almost $150 million of new investment.
The Fund has also supported a significant number of targeted industry development initiatives in collaboration with industry and research partners, which will support sector and jobs growth over time. These include:
- Food Innovation Centre – to help food manufacturers develop products for global markets
- Biocurate – a Monash and Melbourne university joint drug discovery and commercialisation initiative
- Regional Manufacturing Clusters – to support regional manufacturers to innovate and grow
- New FinTech Hubs – to accelerate development of this quickly emerging sector
- The introduction of Building Information Modelling in key government construction projects.
Manufacturing in Victoria continues to go from strength-to-strength with the Australian Industry Group’s Manufacturing Index showing we’ve recorded 15 months of consecutive growth – the longest run since 2001.
The Labor Government has committed over $120 million in manufacturing support, creating over 6,000 jobs and driving more than $1.6 billion in private investment.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Industry and Employment Ben Carroll
“Our future industries are creating jobs in Victoria today – that’s good news for workers, good news for business and good news for the economy.”
“We picked these industries because we knew they’d create jobs and they have – more than 160,000 of them since November 2014.”
Reviewed 19 August 2020