Tasmania's construction blitz and the HomeBuilder scheme continue to boost activity in the state's housing market and stimulate the local economy.
The recent state budget provides a landmark $5bn infrastructure program across the next four years to support around 25,000 jobs.
Peter Gutwein, state premier and treasurer, said the HomeBuilder scheme and the government's construction investment have been stimulating the economy and building confidence state-wide, creating a solid pipeline of work for our building and construction industries for the months and years ahead.
In fact, while job vacancies in Tasmania grew 20.7% over the year to December, construction-related job vacancies have nearly doubled over the year.
"Job vacancies for machinery operators and drivers grew 96% over the year, while job vacancies for labourers grew 83% over the year. These are the highest and second highest, respectively, annual growth rates in the nation," Gutwein said.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, jobs in Tasmania grew by 2% over the first two weeks of January, higher than the 1.3% growth on a national level.
Gutwein said since the peak of the impacts of COVID-19 in May, more than three quarters of Tasmanians have already returned to work.
"The government is focussed on growing our economy, creating jobs, and getting even more Tasmanians back into work as we continue to rebuild a stronger Tasmania," he said.
The positive impacts of the HomeBuilder scheme have become apparent on dwelling approvals.
Latest industry figures show that dwelling approvals in Tasmania rose by 66.5% in December, equivalent to more than six times the national growth. This was also the largest monthly increase in Australia.
"What’s more, in the 2020 calendar year there were 3473 dwelling units approved, which is the highest number of approvals in a 12-month period in more than a quarter of a century," Gutwein said.
