Victoria has witnessed significant migration from Melbourne to regional towns during the last decade. The desire for a simpler, more affordable, and less stressful life allowed many Melburnians to pack their bags and ‘seek refuge’ in regional areas and coastal towns, altering the socioeconomic landscape and reshaping communities. With the power of retrospect, we take a look at the patterns of migration, the motivations behind them, and ask whether this trend is temporary or here to stay. A changing market and pandemic spurred shift This demographic shift was most prominent during the last inter-Censal period (2016-2021) and accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The “Great Resignation”…
Tag: Covid-19 Australia
Many people will be aware that Australia’s population growth has rebounded after the lean COVID-19 years. Unprecedented levels of overseas migration have reversed the minimal population growth from the June Quarter of 2020 to the September Quarter of 2021. The strength of the rebound has come as a bit of a surprise, given the levels of pessimism regarding Australia’s demographic and economic outlook during the peak of the pandemic only two years ago. The increase has been unprecedented with the latest data showing a net migration gain to Australia of almost 387,000 people in the year ending December 2022. This is the highest gain to…
What we’ve seen so far? The 2016 Census recorded low unemployment and underemployment rates, with a marginal drop from that of previous years.Unemployment rates have continued to be on the low since the 2016. While unemployment soared in the wake of Australia’s border closures, the economy witnessed a quick recovery with employment bouncing back to near pre-Covid levels. In light of the recurring lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 and the return of the international workforce back to their home countries, the available casual /part time workforce contracted. Underemployment rates followed a similar trend to unemployment rates since the last Census. While it’s promising that underemployment…
Nothing has been immune from the effect of COVID-19 during the last year. Unsurprisingly, it has also affected metro-regional migration patterns.
With the political demise of Donald Trump, it might have been assumed that the need for walls to divide and separate was on the decline.…
Having undertaken population forecasts for more than two decades, clients at presentations would often ask me, “What’s the biggest risk with your forecasts”?…….. if there was a level of dissatisfaction with those comparatively banal answers, the response would be, “A pandemic”……