The Growing Opportunities for Reliable Jobs in Toowoomba

Located 127 kilometres to the west of Brisbane, Toowoomba is home to roughly 131,258 Australians. Often known as “The Garden City,” Toowoomba is the second-largest inland city by population in Australia. Queensland residents love Toowoomba because the city has a temperate climate, offers affordable housing and hosts a number of notable festivals and events each year. However, people also come to live in Toowoomba because the city offers plenty of jobs and has a bright economic outlook.

Though Toowoomba has experienced population growth over the past decade, the area’s unemployment rate is dropping. Between 2005 and 2009 alone, the population grew by 7 percent as unemployment dropped from 3.5 percent to just 1.6 percent. If you’re looking for work in Queensland, the Toowoomba area offers a wide range of jobs and economic opportunities.

Toowoomba’s Economy and Local Industries
As one of the most important economic centres in Queensland, Toowoomba has stable local industries and strong financial stability. The city’s manufacturing and supply industries account for a major portion of the local economy, and local natural reserves house a wealth of untapped resources.

Toowoomba’s retail industry is constantly growing, and the city is the headquarters of many international, national and local businesses such as:

• Pixie Ice Cream
• Pacific Seeds
• Wagners
• McCafferty’s Coaches
• Home Ice Cream
• Neil Mansell Group
• Heritage Building Society

Education is an extremely important aspect of life in Toowoomba, and the city employs many people in fields related to schooling. Toowoomba is the leading area in Australia for secondary boarding schools and has a wide number of independent and religious schools for students to choose from. The University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba also serves a huge network of local and international students and employs approximately 1,575 people.

The Toowoomba Job Outlook
Over the next several years, Toowoomba residents may especially benefit from jobs available at the nearby Surat Basin. This major reserve of energy resources is located two or three hours west of the city in Queensland and New South Wales. Upcoming projects at the Surat Basin worth around $200 billion are expected to create about 16,000 new jobs over the next few years.

However, Toowoomba will still be an attractive location for jobseekers even if the resources dry up. While many Toowoomba residents are benefiting from the resources boom, the area still has a diverse economy that isn’t reliant on any one particular area. For example, Toowoomba is home to many real estate agents and local accounting, insurance, legal and banking firms. Together, these companies make up a significant part of the Toowoomba economy and employ thousands of area residents.

Cost of Living in Toowoomba
Toowoomba workers are able to keep more of their wages because the cost of living is very competitive in comparison to other cities. Generally, prices for housing, utilities, food, entertainment and transportation are cheaper in Toowoomba than they are in places like Brisbane. Bus Queensland offers several suburban bus services for easy transportation within the city, and you can also take an inter-city bus or a rail service to get to Brisbane or nearby cities like Charleville.

When you work in Toowoomba, you’ll find out why so many Queensland residents are moving to The Garden City with their careers in mind. Toowoomba residents enjoy the chance to find work in a variety of fields with strong growth potential. Best of all, the city is the perfect choice for Queensland jobseekers who want to live somewhere that is quieter and more relaxed than Brisbane.