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Wollongong's Economic Landscape
Wollongong is the regional capital of the Illawarra and its central business district is within a one-hour commute of 700,000 working adults.
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Get in touchTalent pool
Analysis by COPC Inc. found that more than 700,000 working adults live within a one hour commute of Wollongong CBD. This represents a talented pool of potential employees for any new business looking to establish or relocate to Wollongong.
The city is home to the highly-regarded University of Wollongong, which graduates over 7,500 people each year. Its Wollongong campus hosts around 24,000 students.
Wollongong is also a thriving regional CBD of a large and growing population from other local government areas including Shellharbour, Wollondilly and Sutherland.
More than half (60%) of the total value of economic activity (as measured by Gross Regional Product) in the Illawarra occurs within the Wollongong LGA.
Over the last decade, Wollongong has diversified its economic landscape. Our region has attracted game-changing infrastructure projects and major international brands such as NEC, Mercer, AIE Group and Easy Agile to name a few. These companies identified the opportunities in the Wollongong region that would to help grow their business, and along with other homegrown brands, are shaping the future industry direction here in Wollongong.
Why these sectors?
Within each of our sector-specific pages you will find the reasons why Wollongong is a place of opportunity for companies in these sectors, including those that may be currently based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane or internationally. The details include:
- Wollongong’s unique capabilities in this sector.
- Our regions infrastructure to support these sectors.
- Relevant business networks and clusters within the city.
- Initiatives or unique strengths of the University of Wollongong in these areas.
- Case studies of businesses within those sectors who have benefited from their move to Wollongong.
First hand experience
Explore why other businesses and entrepreneurs chose to move their company or base a satellite office in Wollongong – one of the most liveable cities in Australia.
View our case studiesEconomic Development Strategy
The Economic Development Strategy (2019 – 2029) focuses on the key challenge of creating more jobs in Wollongong. Looking ahead this Strategy proposes a number of actions to support an innovative and sustainable economy in the city. 
The Strategy proposes a jobs target of 10,500 new jobs over the next ten years.
The Strategy is based on our learnings from the previous Strategy, research into best-practice approaches from other local governments, extensive consultation with key stakeholders and modelling of the projected future growth trajectory of local jobs.
The key theme running throughout the document is a renewed focus on increasing the number of high-quality jobs in Wollongong. This objective to increase the opportunity for local people to work closer to home will have positive flow on effects such as reducing the individual cost of commuting and helping build a more connected and engaged community.
The Strategy proposes a target of 10,500 new jobs over the next 10 years. This is almost double the amount achieved over the past decade. This may seem ambitious but we believe the actions outlined in the document will provide us with the necessary framework to achieve this positive outcome for Wollongong. The strategy is particularly targeting knowledge-based jobs, to capitalise on the highly skilled talent pool Wollongong has in these areas.
View the Strategy
Download the Wollongong City Council 2019 – 2029 Economic Development Strategy
