Geelong’s boom pain
The rapid expansion in the mining industry over the past decade has done more harm than good to Geelong’s economy. Mining has created virtually no jobs in Geelong and has induced a high exchange rate that is crippling Geelong’s manufacturing industry with more than 1 in 8 manufacturing jobs lost over the past six years. Between the 2006 and 2011 census employment, jobs in manufacturing fell by over 1,100 or 13 per cent. On the upside the mining boom delivered Geelong 82 extra jobs in the mining industry. You don’t have to be an economist to understand these numbers don’t balance.
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