The City of Sydney is encouraging local businesses to take part in a major survey that will provide vital insights into how the city has changed in the wake of the Covid pandemic.
A team of 25 surveyors will spend six months visiting more than 8,000 buildings for the City’s latest floor space and employment survey, which takes place every five years. Once complete, the project will reveal the scale of Sydney’s most important industries as well as the number of jobs and workers in the city.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the study would provide crucial information to help the City plan for the future.
“Sydney is still the heart of the NSW economy, but Covid has prompted a shift in the way many of us work and live,” the Lord Mayor said.
“This survey is a vital tool to track changes in how the city is used by people across greater Sydney and will give us a picture of how space is being deployed on every floor of every building in our area.
“It will help us understand how employment and business activity has changed in the wake of the pandemic and will guide our strategic planning and policy decisions as we adapt to this new normal.”
Surveyors are going door to door to look at how more than 17 million square metres of business floor space is being used. They will collect data on how many jobs and workers are employed in a particular industry, the size and type of businesses, and how floor space is used.
The last floor space and employment survey in 2017 found:
- More than half a million people worked in the city, an increase of 15 per cent in five years.
- Almost half of those were working in finance or professional services roles.
- The number of businesses in the city increased by around 9 per cent since between 2012-17.
- Small businesses accounted for 84 per cent of city businesses, employing around 23 per cent of all workers, while large companies made up just 1.5 per cent but employed 42 per cent of people.
The results of the 2022 floor space and employment survey are expected to be available in mid 2023. See the results of the 2017 survey.
For media enquiries or images, contact Nicky Breen Phone 0436 599 861 | Email nbreen@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au
For interviews with Lord Mayor Clover Moore, contact Zoe Delamare Phone 0477 263 615 | Email zdelamare@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au