Wednesday, 8 November 2017
Board listening to locals to supercharge region’s employment
REGIONAL employment boosting entity Jobs for NSW will hold its next board meeting in Armidale – using the opportunity to meet with Armidale employers, educators and workers, finding methods of driving the local economy, Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall announced today.
The two-day meeting next month will bring the best minds in business to the region, following an invitation by Mr Marshall for the board to visit and see the huge business development and innovation opportunities in the Northern Tablelands.
He said the visit, on Sunday and Monday, December 10 and 11, would help the state’s peak job creation body find hidden opportunities as it worked to deliver economic growth in the region and drive employment.
“Jobs for NSW actively seeks to find investment opportunities that will deliver strong growth across the state and has $190 million to help it achieve that aim,” Mr Marshall said.
“With its proven track record, I asked the Jobs for NSW board to meet in Armidale and I’m thrilled that they’ve committed two days in December, meeting with local groups and checking on the progress of previous job creation programs.
“The key aim of these discussions will be to identify potential areas for growth, discover any local issues that may be hindering business expansion and private sector investment and learn more about our region’s terrific potential.
“With the Board comprised of some of the best business and entrepreneurial minds in the country – I’m confident that it will find novel and productive investment opportunities that will help the Armidale region’s economy grow.”
Mr Marshall said that previous investments had included Armidale’s Agritech Cluster, which is working to create new growth markets for agricultural technology; Uniplan, who greatly expanded their workforce and floorspace; and Boss Engineering, who will employ more than 50 new staff members thanks to a Jobs for NSW Grant.
Jobs for NSW was created in 2015 to help the NSW Government meet its goal of creating 150,000 new jobs to March 2019.
45,000 of those new positions must be made in rural and regional NSW – the equivalent of finding another job for every person in the Armidale Region and Inverell Shire.