Arecord number of job vacancies has been recorded across regional Australia and Mount Gambier continues to be a popular choice for regional movers.

According to the latest quarterly Regional Movers Index powered by the Commonwealth Bank, quarterly migration flows to regional areas averaged approximately 15% greater in the past 12 months compared to the two years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rapidly growing business and employment regions are offering increased opportunities for regional movers and record demand for workers is deemed one of the major ‘pull-factors’ behind the ongoing flow to regions.

Regional Australia Institute Chief Economist Dr Kim Houghton said there were 94,000 job vacancies in the month of October alone.

“That is pretty much three times what it was at the bottom of the cycle in March 2020,” Dr Houghton said.

Dr Houghton said there had been a major increase in jobs across all regions in a wide range of careers, typically high-skilled trades and professionals such as health, education and business.

“I think because we have got so many of those high-quality jobs across so many different parts of regional Australia, people are moving to take up some of those jobs,” Dr Houghton said.

“The lower cost of housing in a lot of regional places has been a real pull factor as well, so the combination of affordability, of housing and opportunity for jobs is proving pretty compelling.

“Even though things have flattened out a little bit in terms of the flows from the cities to the regions we have still got more people flowing from the cities to the regions than we had before COVID.”

Dr Houghton said Mount Gambier had ranked in the top five Local Government Areas for Australia for about the last four quarters and the Regional Movers Index stated the number of people who had moved from capital cities to regions such as Mount Gambier had doubled in the past 12 months.

“Mount Gambier really has featured quite prominently over the last year as a very desirable place for people coming from the cities,” Dr Houghton said.

“It is in that sweet spot, it has got quite a diverse economy, there are good job opportunities in the city and in the South East in general and housing affordability has been very attractive, I know it has got very tight as of late, but it has been quite attractive to people from the cities.

“It has got lots of economic diversity, it is quite a large centre as far as regional South Australia goes, reasonably well-located in the centre of the South East so you are close to Adelaide and not far from Melbourne.”

Dr Houghton said the flow from cities to regions had decreased somewhat from their peak a few quarters ago, however it was still higher than it was pre-COVID, and the normal flow from regions to cities had practically returned to pre-COVID levels.

“The fact the flows from cities to regions are still higher than pre-COVID suggests that it is going to take quite a while for them to come down, but it may not, because COVID has taught us all how we can live and work remotely if we need to as well,” he said.

“So not only are people coming to Mount Gambier to pick up the jobs that are needed there, but some are also coming to Mount Gambier and bringing their job with them, that is quite likely to be a long-term change I think.

“As long as regions have that house price benefit and house availability, they are quite likely to still remain popular and we may well see those flows continuing at a higher level than they were before COVID.”

Dr Houghton said the flow of newcomers who moved from cities to South Australia in the March quarter was strongly dominated by millennials.

“When we look back at the census data, generally in regional South Australia you see an inflow of older people, people over 55, but certainly this last two years has seen real strong inflows from the cities of this younger age group,” he said.

Commonwealth Bank Regional and Agribusiness Executive General Manager Paul Fowler said it was an exciting time for regional communities, movers and the many thriving regional businesses, particularly in agriculture, manufacturing and infrastructure.

“Many regional areas are experiencing strong economic growth, creating employment opportunities for people looking to make the move,” Mr Fowler said.

“It is encouraging to see regions with thriving industries, stimulating employment and overall economic expansion.”