Ballarat Economy Figures Trace Path of Recent Expansion

Ballarat recorded a gross regional product of $7.69 billion in 2023, with 62,005 local jobs counted for 2022/23. The figures appear in material posted at citycompass.com.au/ballarat-c/economic.

The numbers matter now because they mark the end of a five-year period in which the resident population rose from the 2018 base to 118,137 by 2023. That 9.78 per cent increase is listed at economy.id.com.au/ballarat/about. Local planners use these counts to track demand for services and infrastructure without waiting for the next census cycle.

Workforce composition

Health Care and Social Assistance supplied 13,576 positions in the latest count, equal to 21.9 per cent of all jobs. The breakdown sits on economy.id.com.au/ballarat. Manufacturing remains the largest export earner at $3.3 billion, while tourism and hospitality together add roughly A$480 million each year, or about 15 per cent of total activity. Both details are drawn from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballarat.

These shares did not appear overnight. They reflect the cumulative effect of population growth and the continued presence of established industries that have absorbed new residents into the workforce.

Visitor contribution

More than 2.9 million visitors arrived in 2023 and spent above $772 million inside the local economy. The visitor total and the spending total are both recorded in the City of Ballarat document at ballarat.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-01/Ballarat.%20Now%20and%20Into%20the%20Future%20-%20Enabling%20Growth%202025%20Information%20Pack_0.pdf.

That injection sits alongside the manufacturing export figure and the health-sector job count. Together they show the mix of external revenue and internal employment that has supported the $7.69 billion gross regional product.

Officials and businesses will continue to monitor the same data sets released by the same public sources to judge whether the present balance of sectors holds or shifts in the next reporting period.