Food and fun driving CBD spending

Wollongong City Council’s first Economic Insights Report has been released, and it shows that when it comes to household budgets, dining and entertainment are a priority for residents right across the Local Government Area.

Using data collected through Spendmapp – which aggregates all EFTPOS and credit card transactions – we’re able to see dining and entertainment ended 2023 as the second highest spend category across the city. It came in second behind grocery stores and supermarkets, and both categories were well ahead of department stores and clothing, specialised food retailing and specialised and luxury goods.

“As part of Wollongong City Council’s advocacy role in promoting our city’s economic outlook, we’re delivering this quarterly insights report which brings together Wollongong-specific economic indicators and data. It makes for fascinating reading,’’ Wollongong City Council’s Economic Development Manager Mark Grimson said.

“This report shows that the city’s quarterly unemployment rate is at a 50-year-low of 2.7 per cent as of June last year, close to 30 per cent of the jobs across Wollongong are within the CBD and that spending money on dining and entertainment is a priority for residents right across the Local Government Area.

“This type of data is really useful as it helps Council direct our economic planning. It also gives our community the opportunity to understand at a deeper level the impact their spending has locally and what the broader economic environment is having on where we live, work and play.’’

The report will be updated quarterly, and includes commentary around the latest economic indicators and data.

“While some people have always been interested in hearing about economic indicators, I would say there are significantly more people engaged in conversations at this time about the state of the economy and the impact this is having on household budgets and lifestyles,’’ Mr Grimson said.

“Anyone with a mortgage is in tune with the decisions of the RBA on interest rates, and those shopping for groceries are seeing the impacts of inflation on supermarket shelves. What this information shows is how this is playing out at a local level and in households in Helensburgh, Figtree and in Windang. It’s grassroots information that is very relevant to those who live in the Wollongong Local Government Area.’’

Wollongong City Council General Manager Greg Doyle said the information contained within the report was useful as it helped Council prioritise investment across the city.

“I find the information around dining and entertainment particularly interesting as Council has invested a significant amount of energy and focus in this space in recent years and capitalised on the challenges that COVID provided to improve outdoor dining opportunities across Wollongong,’’ he said.

“We’ve streamlined processes for approvals for outdoor dining permits and continue to work proactively with businesses to explore new opportunities. Our activated spaces in Lower Crown Street, the Crown Street Mall and Crown Lane attract people to meet and dine outside. We’ve invested in aesthetic and amenity improvements like new planter boxes and footpaths in our suburbs and increased our foreshore cleansing schedules at peak times to improve the community’s experience when they’re out and about. We are working to create spaces and places where people want to go, eat and socialise. The data in this report shows us that this is a priority for our community and that means it’s also a priority for us.’’

Key lifestyle-related highlights of the report include:

• Over 2023, the total expenditure on dining and entertainment within the CBD was up 1.6 per cent compared to 2022.
• Dining and entertainment is one of the highest spending categories across the whole Local Government Area and the highest spending category within the CBD.
• Total spending in December 2023 was down by 2.5 per cent on December 2022, but by just 1.4 per cent across 2023 when compared to 2022.
• The month of November was the peak in online spending in 2022 and 2023, buoyed by Black Friday sales.
• Online spending has increased by Wollongong Local Government Area residents since December 2019, but stabilised over the past two years. In 2023, online spending decreased in real terms by 4.4 per cent compared to the previous 12 months.
• Across the year, transport and fuel had remained the third highest spend across the Local Government Area until November/December when it was overtaken by department stores and clothing, specialised food retailing and specialised and luxury goods.

“This data shows us how the Black Friday sales in November have shifted a significant amount of purchasing away from the traditional pre-Christmas December window. This is likely driven by increasing cost of living pressures driving savvy purchasing decisions,’’ Mr Doyle said.

“It also tells us, that our residents prioritise social activities with dining and entertainment one of the key things our community spends their money on. This isn’t just in the CBD, as you might expect, but right across all our suburbs.’’

The Economic Insights Report also looks at unemployment data and provides a snapshot of the conditions facing the city’s workers.

Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery said it was fascinating to see that the data showed our city’s unemployment rate sitting at a 50-year low of 2.7 per cent, which is below both the state and national average.

“I’m sure I’m not the only one who is surprised to see that the city’s unemployment rate is sitting at levels that haven’t been seen in Wollongong since the late 1960s and early 1970s – particularly given the broader economic climate at this time,’’ he said.

“It’s a positive for Wollongong and one that shows that we’re working proactively towards the ambitious targets set within the Economic Development Strategy 2019-29 where we were wanting to see the development of 10,500 additional jobs by 2028. According to the latest data set, we’ve already seen an increase of 6,730 jobs since 2019. We really are moving in the right direction. What I hope to see happen next is the youth unemployment rate to continue to decline. It has fallen over recent years down to a low 5.4 per cent in February 2023, but has since increased to 7 per cent in September 2023.’’

Key employment-related highlights of the report include:

• Wollongong Local Government area’s quarterly unemployment rate in June 2023 was 2.7 per cent which was lower than the state (3.2 per cent) and national (3.5 per cent) rates. This rate is a 50-year low, with the last time Wollongong saw similar levels of unemployment was in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
• The most recent data shows there has been a 7.4 per cent increase of jobs (or 6,730 positions) in the city (data from 2017/18 and 2021/22). This is compared with a 3.7 per cent increase across NSW.
• Some 24,396 people are employed in the Wollongong CBD, which accounts for 28 per cent of all jobs in the Wollongong Local Government Area. Of this, only 7 per cent of people are employed in the retail trade, with the two largest sectors being health care and social assistance (employing 6,971 people) and professional and finance services (employing 4,054 people).
• Unanderra Industrial Area and Port Kembla Industrial Areas are the city’s second and third largest employment precincts after the CBD. Together they make up 18.6 per cent of the city’s employment totals.

Read Council's Economic Insights Report for January 2024.