Professor says workers from the west deserve jobs closer to home

A Western Sydney academic says the area’s most valuable exports are the 250,000 workers who leave the region every day to make the rest of the Harbour City rich. Here’s how he suggests turning the tables.

Western Sydney’s most valuable exports are the 250,000 workers who leave the region every day to make the rest of the Harbour City rich, a top university professor has revealed.

According to research from Western Sydney University (WSU), a shortage of high-value jobs in the area drives residents to the CBD for employment, where they spend their cash five days a week.

But Professor Andy Marks, vice president of public affairs and partnerships at WSU, says there are solutions to keep professionals closer to home while jobs for Western Sydney can be created through new and innovative projects.

He suggested a Silicon Valley-type approach to Australia’s crippling housing crisis.

The concept could develop a prefab and 3D construction hub to leverage latest technology and build a next generation of residential precincts across surrounding suburbs.

Construction workers from western Sydney travel all over the city.

They are a labour force that powers economic growth.

“If Western Sydney is looking for a golden ticket, modular housing could be an answer,” he added.

“Fantastic for the manufacturing sector, it’s something Western Sydney could lead in terms of solving a national problem.

“You could put it in an emerging space like Bradfield near the new airport. It’s going to be serviced by a Metro link in a few years and there’s planned expansion of rail links. You could have this precinct that also provides export potential into areas like South-East Asia.”

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Business Western Sydney Executive Director David Borger said consideration should be given as well to more technology hubs in the west.

“We’ve cornered the market in IT nerds between Blacktown and Parramatta,” he said. “Unfortunately there aren’t enough jobs in that area so people are forced to go to the city CBD if they can’t work from home.

“It’s a mismatch and the market hasn’t realised there’s an opportunity to get into cheaper digs while getting better access to great talent closer to where that talent lives.”

WSU data shows there are 0.81 jobs per worker available in Western Sydney, compared with 1.24 jobs across the rest of Sydney. That striking difference is what draws workers out of the west.

Commuters at Penrith Railway Station.

“We’re detracting from our region by exporting a quarter of a million people every day into Sydney to do work that should be done in Western Sydney and be bringing value to Western Sydney,” Professor Marks said. “We are leaving talent on the table when Western Sydney is already the smart city. There is no shortage of firepower, we just need to redirect it.”

The population of Western Sydney is 2.7 million and the rest of Sydney around 2.85 million. But WSU analysis says the gross regional product (GRP) for Western Sydney is $170bn per year against $330bn for the rest of Sydney.

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Professor Marks explained: “There are more high-value jobs in areas including finance and professional services and they are creating higher economic outputs. But you have 250,000 Western Sydney workers who are also contributing to those rest of Sydney numbers.

“That’s why there needs to be an urgency to catch up on this inequity. At the moment all we do is make the rest of Sydney rich while we get under served”.

“There’s also a multiplier effect at play in that those from the west with jobs in the city buy their coffee every day, and lunch, near where they work”.

WSU data says 37.5 per cent of working age Western Sydney residents hold tertiary education qualifications, compared with 55.6 per cent for the rest of Sydney.

But Professor Marks says the Western Sydney percentage has risen substantially in recent years, helped by the arrival of immigrants with university degrees who also encourage their children to complete tertiary education.

Originally published as Professor says workers from the west deserve jobs closer to home