This report examines the job market of four key industries in regional Australia, which included food processing, tourism, advanced manufacturing and creative industries. It highlights ‘hotspots’ that could help drive the economic future of local economies, and is designed to spark conversations at all levels of government, industry and within regional communities.

This paper is part of the RAI’s ‘Settlement Patterns and Economic Growth’ major research project. This project was undertaken as part of the Regional Towns and Cities theme of the RAI’s 2018 Intergovernmental Shared Inquiry Program.

This project assesses the economic impacts of a more decentralized population growth strategy that prioritizes greater regional growth in and around each of these four metropolitan regions. As part of this assessment, we analyse the high-level relationship between a city’s population size and its performance across different economic, and social and quality of life indicators.

In April 2019, the Regional Australia Institute (RAI) convened the historic Regions Rising national summit in Canberra. This summit brought together business, government and community leaders from across rural and regional Australia to discuss the future of regional development. As a result of the hacks, the RAI is pleased to present this summary of outcomes...

The face of regional jobs across the country is changing rapidly and a plan to meet demand is needed now – according to the Regional Australia Institute.