Western Australia looks set to remain an economic powerhouse, with all the stars maintaining their alignment for the business community in the medium term.
Western Australia looks set to remain an economic powerhouse, with all the stars maintaining their alignment for the business community in the medium term.
The latest quarterly analysis by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA predicts the state’s growth will accelerate to 6.25 per cent in 2005-06 on the back of strong export demand.
The strong economic news, which includes a forecast that the end of the housing boom in WA will be less severe than that experienced in the eastern states, is joined by other statistical evidence that the Western seaboard is booming.
A salary survey by recruitment firm Robert Walters has found strong demand, particularly for contract accountants in the booming junior and mid-sized resource sector.
The survey found that despite the growing skills shortage, people with local experience are at a premium in various sectors, notably sales and marketing, and there was also a trend in the banking sector to focus and train home-grown talent.
But clearly local workers can’t satisfy demand entirely, as immigration statistics show.
The Small Business Development Corporation has pointed out that WA is now the most popular destination for skilled migrants from the UK, accepting 5120 in the 2003-04 financial year.
According to the SBDC, the trend in business migration is similar.
CCIWA chief economist Nicky Cusworth said that growth will reach 4.75 per cent for the current financial year as mine capacity expansions provide exporters with additional output in times of high demand.
Iron ore, oil, LNG, gold and alumina were among the most buoyant commodities.
“Western Australia’s economic growth remains broadly based, with consumer spending and business investment robust, while the export sector has strengthened considerably despite a high Australian dollar,” Ms Cusworth said.
She said that business investment had grown more than 20 per cent a year for the past three years and, while not expected to maintain that pace, it was still anticipated to be strong for the next 24 months at least.
The CCIWA report warned that there were signs of wage pressure starting to emerge, with average weekly earnings rising almost twice as fast in WA, at 2.8 per cent, as the national figure.
More than half the respondents to the survey reported labour availability as scarce, the highest proportion since the survey started in 1997.
The report noted the level of industrial unrest in WA, with 20.1 working days lost per 1000 employees in the December quarter, a rate three times the national average. This was, however, down from more than 50 working days lost per 1000 employees in the previous corresponding period.
