Billionaire pledges 5000 jobs; Townsville projects tipped to create 6800

jobs in Australia — A job advert for a local fast food outlet hangs on a wall in a shopping center located in central Sydney, Australia, in this March. Reuters/David Gray

A new employment report has revealed that Townsville projects have the potential to create up to 6,800 jobs. It comes as billionaire businessmen Anthony Pratt announced a plan to create 5,000 jobs in the manufacturing industry.

The Townsville Projects and Jobs list for recruitment firm TP Human Capital includes projects from the new Sealink ferry terminal to the Townsville stadium. It also comprises regional mining developments.

The list was compiled by economist Colin Dwyer. According to him, Townsville strengthened as 12,000 jobs were created over the past year, according to the labour force data.

Dwyer revealed that another 6,800 jobs could be generated. These include 3,800 jobs from potential projects in the medium term and over 3,000 from projects in the next one to two years.

The latest Australian Bureau of Statistics workforce numbers, Dwyer said, reflect a spike in job numbers for the Townsville region. “According to June ABS figures there has been over 12,000 jobs created in the Townsville region in the past year with the region now delivering 107,200 full-time, part-time and casual jobs,” he noted.

Clayton Cook, managing director of TP Human Capital, said the list contained Townsville projects that could provide more than 3000 jobs in the short to medium term.“In addition to this, our Potential Projects list has five projects that could create almost 4000 jobs in the medium term,” Townsville Bulletin quotes him as saying.

Promised jobs

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull joined Pratt in the southern NSW town of Tumut as he announced a $2 billion plan to produce manufacturing jobs. The Aussie leader has maintained that every part of his government's program is aimed at generating occupations. Latest figures suggest that the recent strong expansion of the labour market will continue.

According to a Department of Employment survey, a 1.2 percent rise in job vacancies was posted online in July. Job ads climbed in trend terms in all eight occupational groups the department has monitored.

Global employment consultants Manpower Group has conducted a separate survey which found that enthusiasm for hiring has yet to pick up to its pre-2008-09 global financial crisis level. It revealed that Australia's employment expectations were robust, but failed to recapture the post-crisis highs that resulted from the government's stimulus package. For instance, it failed to match the solid performance of the United States, which faced a serious downturn during the global financial crisis.