Survey confirms mining delivers billions in spending and record jobs in the Hunter
This is the third year in a row that direct mining spending in the Hunter by NSW Minerals Council members topped $6 billion, and the highest since the 2012-13 financial year.
Results from the latest annual NSW Minerals Council’s latest Member Expenditure Survey have confirmed mining’s central role in the Hunter economy continues.
Participating mining companies supported over 13,580 jobs in the Hunter, an increase of over 330 jobs compared to last financial year and the second highest number of jobs reported in the decade-long history of the survey.
The same companies also directly injected $6.3 billion into the Hunter economy in the last financial year - an increase of $200 million on the previous year and the equal highest result reported in a decade.
The $6.3 billion of direct mining spending in the Hunter last financial year included over $1.6 billion on wages and salaries, and $4.7 billion for goods and services purchased from over 3,000 mining supplier businesses across the Hunter region.
An economic analysis of these Survey results found the $6.3 billion of direct spending of the 27 participating mining companies in the last financial year contributed almost 30% of the GRP of the Hunter region’s economy during this period, up slightly from the previous year.
“These very strong results highlight the importance of mining for the Hunter’s economy, and for mining communities across the region. Mining clearly continues to provide economic strength and stability to the Hunter, supporting thousands of Hunter families and businesses,” NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee said yesterday.
On a statewide level, the Survey found that participating companies directly injected $14.6 billion into the NSW economy in the last financial year. This is the second highest level of mining spending in NSW in a decade and only slightly down on the record $14.9 billion reported for the previous financial year.
The $14.6 billion of direct mining spending in NSW in the last financial year included over $2.8 billion spent on wages and salaries, as well as almost $10 billion for goods and services purchased from over 7,300 mining supplier businesses in Sydney and across regional NSW.
7,300 NSW businesses were reported as part of the mining supply chain in the last financial year - down from 7800 businesses in the previous year, reflecting the difficulties faced by many businesses across NSW due to Covid-19.
An economic analysis of the Survey results by NSW Mining found that the regional economic impact of the direct spending of the 28 participating mining companies was equivalent to:
- 29% of the Gross Regional Product (GRP) of the Hunter region
- 19% of the GRP of the Central West region
- 8% of the GRP of the Illawarra region
- 14% of the GRP of the North West region
- 45% of the GRP of the Far West of NSW
