Mine could raise WA's lowest wages

Wages in Albany are the lowest in all of Western Australia’s major regional towns according to new figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, but that could all change if a proposed mine at Wellstead gets off the ground.

In a sign the local economy is lagging behind the rest of the State, the figures showed an increasing disparity between Albany workers’ wages and their WA counterparts.

The ABS snapshot of Australian wages and incomes was released last week, showing the typical Albany employee earned $38,553 in the 12 months to June 30, 2009, the most recent reporting period.

It is a 35 per cent increase on average wages, or 5.2 per cent a year, when looking to the 2003-04 financial year, in which Albany workers took home about $28,500.

But the increase was the slowest among all of WA’s major centres and leaves Albany with the lowest average incomes.

According to the ABS, Geraldton enjoyed the strongest wages growth of 5.8 per cent, lifting average annual incomes to $45,050, while Bunbury incomes increased 5.7 per cent over the six years to $48,080.

Kalgoorlie, like most other regional towns with a mining-based economy, had steady wages growth of 5.3 per cent, taking annual incomes to $60,001.

Statewide, workers’ incomes rose 5.8 per cent to $50,424, with those in the Pilbara mining hub of Roebourne earning the most at $77,692.

Albany Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Graham Harvey said the figures confirmed the Great Southern economy was struggling but pointed out the region was “not an orphan” among communities that were not connected to the mining boom.

He said that while the figures did not make pretty reading, Albany could be expected to improve its performance and narrow the gap on the rest of the field if Grange Resource’s multi-billion-dollar Southdown project came on line.

Initial production at Southdown is expected to begin in 2014.