Perth is on track to have 192,000 jobs up for grabs in the next five years, driven by an influx of young working professionals and a strong housing pipeline.
KPMG Perth Partner Matt Woods was encouraged by the figures from the professional services firm, saying it showed the city had broken free of its reputation as a boom-bust town.
AUKUS, the State Government’s Made in WA plan, and a raft of new energy projects prompted KPMG to take an even more bullish outlook than its forecast last year of an extra 159,000 jobs by 2030.
There are currently 1.3 million working people in Perth out of a population of 2.4 million across Greater Perth.
While unlikely to dent Perth’s rock solid reputation as a mining town, it was the healthcare sector that recorded the biggest employment growth in 2024 with an additional 23,500 jobs added.
“That’s perhaps not unexpected given the population increase that we’ve had, people migrating into Perth to take advantage of those employment opportunities, coupled with the ageing population necessitates growth in that sector.” Mr Woods said.
An extra 10,500 new positions in white collar professional services work, and another 6500 jobs in construction and education respectively were added, according to KPMG’s Enterprising Cities report.
“I think the historical view that Perth is a bit of a boom-bust town is dead. We’ve seen six years of economic growth and Budget surpluses and an economy that is starting to diversify which is really positive for those of us that live in Perth.”
Net overseas migration was the biggest driver of Greater Perth’s population growth in the 2023-2024 financial year, according to the latest data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
KPMG noted in its report covering the calendar year that the 20–29 age group increased the most, growing by 22,700 people. The 30s cohort followed, increasing by 12,000 people.
“I suspect that’s as a result of the opportunities that exist for employment in Perth,” Mr Woods said. “What’s really important is we’re getting the workforce migrating to Perth . . . the workers that are going to come here and deliver into those job opportunities.”
The prospect of accommodating those workers — an issue not unique to Perth — is also improving, according to KPMG.
Dwelling approvals in 2024 rose to 16,583, a meaningful increase on the 10,481 approvals in 2023 and above the five-year average of 15,360.
“The problem is by no means solved but the metric is moving in the right direction,” Mr Woods said.
