FACTBase Bulletin 32 - Economic specialisation in mining: A spatial assessment

This paper revisits an earlier comparative assessment of Perth’s economic base that examined economic specialisation in different industrial sectors using location quotients.

Key Findings

• Between 1991 and 2011, the economic specialisation in the mining industry in Greater Perth rose greatly. It went from a location quotient of 1.28 in 1991 to 2.39 in 2011.
• Flow-on effects from this high specialisation in the mining industry is seen with the significant economic concentrations within the construction, real estate and rental, and professional, scientific and technical services industries which all have location quotients above 1.10 indicating they are highly concentrated.
• The spatial dimension of Perth’s economic specialisation in mining reveals that it is the inner-city SLAs which have the greatest dependence on mining, with SLAs of Perth – Inner, Perth – Remainder, Subiaco, Cottesloe, and Murray all having location quotients of mining above 3.55.
• Between 1991 and 2011, these inner city SLAs have become more concentrated in their mining location quotient whereas outer suburbs have mostly decreased in their mining location quotient.