Western Sydney is Australia’s third largest economy, housing 47% of Sydney’s total population (2.12 million) and producing 31% of Sydney’s Gross Regional Product ($104 billion). 29 NSW electorates, almost a third of the State’s total, lie at least partly within Western Sydney.

This paper covers a number of economic indicators for Western Sydney as a whole, including: Gross Regional Product, the labour force who are residents of Western Sydney, the labour force whose place of work is Western Sydney, employment projections by place of work, business numbers, employment lands, building approvals and completions, and the housing market. Comparisons are also made to the Rest of Sydney economy and, on occasion, the NSW economy.

Over the past decade the Western Sydney population has grown faster than the Rest of Sydney population. Conversely, the economy of Western Sydney has recorded slower growth than that of the Rest of Sydney on at least three indicators: Gross Regional Product (GRP); the number of employed residents; and the number of jobs located in the region. The Western Sydney resident labour force generally records worse labour force indicators than the Rest of Sydney: it has higher total and youth unemployment rates and lower total and youth participation rates.

The Western Sydney economy is expected to start catching up to the Rest of Sydney economy in the coming decades, driven by projected higher population growth and a number of infrastructure and policy developments, notably the Western Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek, the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal and further development and expansion of the Western Sydney Employment Area.