New South Wales mining companies continue to support record levels of mining jobs and near-record levels of direct spending in the state, according to the NSW Minerals Council’s latest annual member Expenditure Survey.
In the last financial year, 29 participating NSW mining companies supported over 35,100 full time equivalent jobs, an increase of almost 160 jobs on the previous year and the highest number of mining jobs reported in the survey’s history.
The survey also found participating companies directly injected close to AU$22 billion into the NSW economy over the same period, matching the previous year’s spending figure and nearly doubling the 2014/15 financial year figure of AU$11 billion.
NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee said: “The mining sector’s contribution to the NSW economy is the one of the largest in the 14-year history of the survey, delivering more jobs than ever, spending AU$22 billion directly across the state, and supporting more than 7,500 NSW businesses.
“In the current climate of economic uncertainty it is vital that governments support industries like mining that deliver such stability to the economy. Approving mining projects that secure jobs and economic growth for the future is good policy. New taxes and new red tape for an industry already drowning in compliance burdens is not good policy.”
Breaking down each contribution by sector, the coal sector was the largest contributor to the state economy, delivering AU$19.3 million in direct spending, including AU$3.4 billion in wages and salaries, and AU$12.5 billion with almost 5,400 local supply businesses.
The coal sector provided over 26,100 jobs and delivered AU$3.3 billion in royalties and other taxes paid to the NSW government.
The metals mining sector contributed AU$2.6 billion in direct spending to the NSW economy, including AU$0.6 billion in wages and salaries, and AU$1.6 billion with over 2,800 local supply businesses.
According to an economic analysis of the survey, the 29 participating mining companies contributed 26 per cent of the gross regional product (GRP) of the Hunter region, 15 per cent of the GRP of the Central West region and the North West region, 14 per cent of the GRP of the Far West region, 8 per cent of the GRP of the Illawarra region and 5 per cent of the GRP of the Northern region.
“These strong GRP results from across the state highlight just how much of regional NSW continues to depend on mining for jobs, investment and economic growth,” Galilee said.
