Western Australia continues on the road to economic recovery

Written on the 29 January 2018

• Number of independent reports confirm WA economy continues to improve
• Jobs growth just off its strongest level in five years
• WA's population is growing at its fastest rate in two years

Treasurer Ben Wyatt has today welcomed the release of two reports which deliver more positive news for Western Australia's economy.

CommSec Research's 'State of the States' publication reports that employment growth in WA is just off its strongest levels in five years. It also reports that Western Australia's population is growing at its fastest rate in two years, with four quarters of continuous growth.

This is further to another CommSec report released last week that showed that WA had the strongest rate of growth in job vacancies of all States in Territories in 2017.

For the calendar year of 2017, Western Australia recorded employment growth of 1.4 per cent, recovering sharply from a 0.8 per cent fall in 2016-17; an unemployment rate of 5.9 per cent, down from 6.2 per cent in 2016-17 and the equal second lowest of all States (along with Tasmania); and the highest participation rate of all States (67.8 per cent), 2.7 percentage points above the national rate (65.1 per cent).

Analysis released from Deloitte Access Economics in their latest 'Business Outlook' report today also forecast strong growth in Gross State Product, business investment and future wages growth in Western Australia over the coming years.

Comments attributed to Treasurer Ben Wyatt:

"When you look carefully at these reports, they paint a very positive picture for the state of WA's economy.

"There is now mounting economic data which collectively shows that WA's economy is moving in the right direction.

"It is particularly encouraging to see the positive results in jobs growth, which is a key focus of the McGowan Government.

"While the news is good, the job is by no means finished and we continue to work hard to deliver more jobs and fix the mess we inherited."

Treasurer's office - 6552 5900