Wollongong leads nation in low unemployment

"In the beginning, you'd spend 24 hours, working on your business, and we got to a stage where we said right, we need to have work at work, and when we go home, we do what we do," Sarah said.

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With their new space, the pair are able to target weddings and major events, while also running workshops for those keen to try their hand at floristry.

To do all this - and keep work at work - they will need more staff, and are planning on taking on an apprentice soon.

Their business, Brilliant Blooms, is one of many across the Illawarra region that are on a hiring boom, driving down the region's unemployment rate to well below the national average and the lowest seen in the region for a very long time.

Analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics Data by KPMG, provided to The Mercury, shows that Wollongong's unemployment rate fell to 2.7 per cent in January 2023, even as the participation rate climbed to 66 per cent.

Since January 2020, the unemployment rate has consistently in Wollongong declined from a high of above seven per cent.

Nationally, unemployment stood at 3.5 per cent in January 2023.

Demographics and urban economics director at KPMG, Terry Rawnsley said COVID refugees fleeing Sydney had added to Wollongong's workforce, while major employers in the healthcare, education and construction sectors had soaked up workers.

"It's pretty extraordinary to see unemployment starting with a two," he said.

Since the end of 2019, the Illawarra has generated about 24,000 new jobs. Health care provided the lion's share, with 11,000 jobs, followed by education with 4000, public administration with 3000 and construction with 2000.

The survey measures jobs by where people live, rather than where they work, and Mr Rawnsley said the growth in the public administration sector was partly driven by the ability of public servants to work from home.

In comparison with other major regional centres, Wollongong has been able to get more people into jobs, beating competitors such as Newcastle and Geelong, and roughly even with the Gold Coast. At the same time, Wollongong has increased the number of people in the workforce, whereas Newcastle, Darwin, Hobart and the Gold Coast saw participation levels drop.

With unemployment so low, and demand for workers expected to continue to climb, KPMG Wollongong managing partner Adam Cole said the challenge for employers will be to find the people to complete major projects.

"What I'm hearing from talking to business owners and employees in the region, one of their key challenges is just attracting appropriate skilled workers," he said.

"If we overlay that with some of the significant projects that are going to be coming to the region, then that's a challenging dynamic for employers."

Prior to moving into Fairy Meadow, Sarah and Jessie said their business relied upon the support of locals in Balgownie and referrals through word of mouth, however they were now picking up more trade from Sydneysiders heading south for weddings and new arrivals in the region.

Despite more people being in work, Mr Rawnsley said wages were not rising at the levels predicted by the economics textbooks, meaning cost of living and affordability pressures remained.

Sarah said to accommodate this, the new premises enabled them to stock products at a range of price points.

"We will have the $100 bunch but we will always have the $25 or the $15 bunch as well," she said.

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