The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation has released a report that has shown home building to have the second highest drive of jobs in Australia.
The Building Jobs: How Residential Construction Drives the Economy report is the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation’s (NHFIC) first targeted report from its newly formed research unit. Using the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, it found that nine jobs are supported, and three new jobs are created for every $1 million spent on residential construction.This means home construction has the second largest economic multiplier of the 114 industries that are part of Australia’s economy.
With the average cost of building a house being $320,000, the report found each house would support an estimated three jobs across the economy, with 45 per cent considered on-site jobs and the other 55 per cent being off-site.
“Understanding how residential construction activity may affect jobs and flow through to the broader economy is increasingly important and timely, given the impact of COVID-19,” NHFIC chief executive officer Nathan Dal Bon said.
The report found residential construction’s links with other related industries means it helps to support a larger slice of Australia’s economy.
“Based on our analysis using the latest ABS data, residential construction plays a vital role in supporting jobs both on and off building sites,” the report stated.
While quarrying itself was not listed among the industries that directly benefit (based on input/output tables produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics), a spokesperson for the NHFIC informed Quarry that residential construction nonetheless supported jobs in cement, lime and ready-mixed concrete manufacturing, and plaster and concrete manufacturing. These segments are end users of quarry products.
The NHFIC’s research unit was set up this year by the Commonwealth Government with the role of providing independent research related to housing in Australia.
About 134,000 people are employed in residential construction across the country.
Prior to COVID-19, residential construction, thanks to population growth, was the largest of the construction segments, accounting for about 160,000 new house builds per annum in Australia.