Stark stats

Figures from the City of Melbourne’s most recent Census of Land Use and Employment (CLUE) study tells us much about what we already know about Southbank.

Headline statistics showed our suburb has 41,828 workers, 939 establishments and a $530 median weekly rental price, which is the same as it was in March 2012.

Probably the most telling statistic, which is hardly surprising in itself, is that community space covers the least amount of floor space of any of the 13 applicable categories.

Community space accounts for a miserly 5162 sqm compared with accommodation, which covers 1.47 million sqm of the suburb.

While future open space projects at Southbank Boulevard, Boyd Park and Kavanagh St will help address the problem, it’s a stark illustration of how desperately community space is needed.

Other figures on Southbank show arts and recreational services and professional, scientific and technical services are the two biggest employment industries, while accommodation has tripled since 2002.

The data shows that Southbank is the city’s third largest area for employment, with jobs increasing to 41,828, up from 32,500 in 2005.

Across Melbourne generally, the data reveals there were 29,000 new dwellings and 8 million sqm of floor space added to the municipality in the last 10 years.

The CLUE data found that Melbourne’s economy is now worth 44 per cent more than it was in 2005, valued at $90.6 billion.

The number of jobs across the Melbourne municipality has also increased by 33 per cent in the past decade to 450,336 local jobs.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said the latest data reinforced anecdotal evidence and reports from other agencies and business that the city’s economy was booming.

“We’re growing in a smart and sustainable way with out largest industries being professional services, finance, insurance and technology, clean-tech and biotech – paving the way for an innovative knowledge economy,” Cr Doyle said.

“Great cities provide great opportunities for their people.”

“This report also highlights that cities continue to be the economic engine rooms of our nation. Melbourne now represents a third of Victoria’s total economic activity,” Cr Doyle said.