Understanding the economic role of Whitsunday Regional Council provides a framework for understanding what policy responses and investment may be appropriate to support the growth of businesses and maintenance of a vibrant economy in the future.
The charts and table below give a broad overview of the role and function of your economy. It helps answer questions such as:
- How much of Whitsunday's economy is driven by meeting the local population needs?
- What proportion of jobs in the area are in goods production or selling of products?
- In which broad sectors are the key strengths of the local economy?
- What contribution do business services make in your area and is it growing?
- Is there a presence of local, state and federal government workers in in the area?
Once you have developed a broad picture of your economy, you can then drill down further with all the detail here.
Current area:
| Employment composition | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitsunday | 2024 | 2019 | 2014 | |||
| Industry | number | % | number | % | number | % |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 1,938 | 9.2 | 1,672 | 9.1 | 1,547 | 8.8 |
| Mining | 1,342 | 6.4 | 1,125 | 6.1 | 1,255 | 7.2 |
| Goods related | 7,106 | 33.6 | 6,887 | 37.6 | 6,634 | 37.9 |
| Household services | 7,876 | 37.3 | 6,253 | 34.2 | 5,517 | 31.5 |
| Business services | 2,048 | 9.7 | 1,781 | 9.7 | 1,970 | 11.3 |
| Public administration and safety | 812 | 3.8 | 591 | 3.2 | 576 | 3.3 |
| Total Industries | 21,121 | 100.0 | 18,308 | 100.0 | 17,499 | 100.0 |
Source: National Institute of Economic and Industry Research (NIEIR) ©2025. Compiled and presented in economy.id by .id (informed decisions). Data are based on a 2020-21 price base for all years. NIEIR-ID data are inflation adjusted each year to allow direct comparison, and annual data releases adjust previous years’ figures to a new base year.Learn more. Please refer to specific data notes for more information | ||||||